Doctors from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) have noted that adolescents had milder symptoms and lower mortality compared to adults during the first and second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, based on the analysis of 197 patients, aged 12 to 18 years, admitted to the hospital with COVID-19.

Around 84.6% of the adolescents developed mild disease, 9.1% had moderate disease, and 6.3% had severe disease. The most common symptoms included fever and cough, with 14.9% reporting it. About 11.5% of the children had body aches, 10.4% had fatigue, and 6.2% had shortness of breath.

Among adults, on the other hand, 50.7% reported having breathlessness during the second wave, according to another study from the same hospital. In-hospital mortality rate was 3.1% among the adolescents, which is 6-fold lesser than that noted among adults at the same hospital during the second wave (19.1%)… (The Indian Express, January 22, 2022)