Omicron infects 6-8 times more children under 5 than Delta, according to a study

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THE Omicron variant Coronavirus has infected six to eight times more children under the age of five compared to Delta, but cases of severe Covid-19 in young children are less common in the case of Omicron, according to a new american scientific research.

The researchers, who published in the American Journal of Pediatrics “JAMA Pediatrics”, analyzed data for the period 2021-2022 for 651,640 children under the age of five, including 66,692 due to Delta infection and 22,772 due to Omicron.

It was found that at the peak of the Delta wave (autumn 2021) two to three children per 2,000 were infected with coronavirus daily. When the Omicron wave then started, there were five to 11 new cases per 2,000 children daily, while in peak of Omicron in early 2022 the proportion reached 17 per 2,000 children under the age of five, with most among children under the age of two being infected more frequently than those aged three and four.

On the other hand, children with Omicron had a significantly lower risk of serious illness and hospitalization in an ICU. Less than 2% of children under the age of five who became ill due to Omicron needed to be admitted to hospital, compared with twice as many as 4% due to Delta.

“Omicron is highly contagious in children, more so than the Delta variant. Although Omicron is also less severe, the risk of a serious outcome associated with Omicron is not zero. There are still several children who are infected with Omicron who “They will get seriously ill,” said researcher Rong Hu, a professor at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.

To date, no Covid-19 vaccine has been approved for the age group up to five years, which increases the risk of infection and disease of young children with Omicron or its subtype. Ομικρον 2.

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