Incidence of Covid-19 among children up by 10%-15% in 2021 - expert

MOSCOW. Oct 26 (Interfax) - The incidence of Covid-19 cases among children in Russia has grown this year compared to 2020, but almost none of these children have had severe symptoms, Andrei Fisenko, director of the Russian Health Ministry's National Children's Medical Research Center, said on Tuesday.

"We see that incidence [of Covid-19 cases among children] has grown by 10% to 15% compared to last year in terms of cases of moderate severity. Fortunately, we haven't observed children in critical condition," Fisenko said at a press conference at the Interfax office.

In summer 2020, when a hospital for patients with Covid-19 was opened at the center, 405 children underwent treatment there, he said.

"Only ten of them had serious forms of coronavirus infection, and the other children had symptoms of moderate severity," Fisenko said.

Children with severe forms of Covid-19 typically have serious underlying diseases, such as malignant tumors or leukemia, or "it's a child who's had some of their internal organ transplanted, like kidney or liver," he said.

"Such children receive immunosuppressive therapy, which significantly affects their immunity, and then they suffer severe forms of coronavirus infection," Fisenko said.