Two months of school, and more than 4,000 children catch COVID in Karnataka

As many as 4,145 children have been officially diagnosed with COVID across Karnataka in the two months since October when physical classes restarted in schools, state government data has shown. The incidence of infection is higher in older children.

The case numbers have shot up in schools and colleges with the emergence of infection clusters in the last few weeks.

In the last 10 days, 679 child cases (0-19 age group) were found in the state, 88 per cent of whom were students aged 10 and above, a report in Deccan Herald noted, citing data from the State Covid War Room. In comparison, 656 cases were found among those aged 20 to 29 years, and 623 among those aged 30 to 39 years. The other age groups recorded smaller numbers.

The first school classes (6-8) were started on September 6 in the state.

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Experts suspect the case numbers among children could be higher than official figures because most of them are asymptomatic.

“The number of cases with COVID being received at the Indira Gandhi Institute Of Child Health has been roughly the same as before but one important distinction is that few children are coming to the hospital with a specific complaint of COVID. It is only when they are tested that we find they have the disease. Up to 70 per cent of paediatric child cases are asymptomatic,” Professor of Paediatrics Dr Basavaraj GV was quoted as saying in the report.

According to the report, the majority of students were found disregarding safety measures after leaving campuses, while school managements insisted they were implementing all SOPs for infection control inside the premises.