Children in a district in HCMC wash their hands before entering the school (Photo: SGGP)
In Ho Chi Minh City, the number of Covid-19 children has recently increased slightly. On February 14, the city recorded 27 children with Covid-19 and the city reported 50 and 86 Covid-19 children on February 15 and 16. Luckily, most children infected with Covid-19 this time have mild symptoms and they received treatment at home.
Currently, 45 children under 16 years old with Covid-19 are being treated in hospitals in the city.
According to the Ministry of Education and Training’s statistics, after some localities provided direct teaching in schools, there has been a sharp increase in the rate of teachers and students infected with Covid-19; for instance, the Northern City of Hai Phong reported 9,649 cases accounting for 1.76 percent, the central provinces of Ha Tinh and Nghe An with 675 cases and 298 cases respectively and Thanh Hoa Province with 2,359 cases.
Moreover, the Ministry of Health announced that the country has so far more than 490,000 children infected with Covid-19, accounting for about 19.2 percent of the total number of Covid-19 cases. Of 490,000 cases, about 4.8 percent of children aged 13-17, 8 percent children 6-12 years old, 2.8 percent children 3-5 years old, and 3.6 percent children 0-2 years old.
Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Truong Son said that more children infected with Covid-19 will continue to increase in the near future because children have returned to school while many of them have not been vaccinated. With the Omicron variant, the infection will be more at risk in the group of children who have not been vaccinated against Covid-19, Deputy Minister Nguyen Truong Son acknowledged.
Statistics from the Ministry of Health show that up to now, the country has recorded 165 deaths of Covid-19 patients, accounting for 0.42 percent of the total number of deaths. Particularly, after the coronavirus hit Ho Chi Minh City, roughly 32,400 children have been infected with Covid-19 so far, including 48 deaths, accounting for 0.15 percent of the total number of cases.
Of 2,478 cases of Covid-19 in children, 165 cases were severe and critical, mainly in the group of over 10 years old and obese children and children with underlying diseases.
Despite low mortality amongst children infected with Covid-19, health workers must keep an eye on overweight and obese children and children with underlying and chronic diseases, and immunocompromised children said Deputy Minister Nguyen Truong Son said. He expressed his worry over dangerous complications such as multi-organ failure, sepsis, multi-system inflammation amongst recovered children who have had mild disease, without symptoms.
According to medical experts, children with Covid-19 are usually treated at home whereas a few of them with severe and critical health conditions such as low oxygen saturation index, obvious lung damage have had to be taken to hospitals for further treatment.
Parents should take children to infirmaries for treatment if children have symptoms such as breathing fast, shortness of breath, rising and falling nostrils, chest indrawing, lethargy, refusing to feed, purple lips, extremities, and cold extremities
In the context of reopening, it is expected that the number of children infected with Covid-19 will increase, so ensuring the safety of children to prevent disease is extremely important. The Ministry of Health is making efforts to stockpile the Covid-19 vaccine for children aged 5 to under 12 years old after the administration of vaccination for children from 12-18 years old.
