why the new coronavirus strain is more hazardous for children and why it infect children most ?
Answers
Explanation:
Scientists are investigating whether a mutant new variant of coronavirus is more dangerous for children and young people.
Coronavirus has so far mainly affected the elderly and vulnerable groups, with children very rarely falling seriously ill with Covid-19 and generally showing fewer symptoms.
But concerns are being raised over the behaviour of new variant – named VUI-202012/01 – which appears to be more than 70 per cent more transmissible than its predecessor.
Why have these concerns emerged?
The UK government's New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats advisory group (Nervtag) confirmed on Monday it was investigating links.
Prof Neil Ferguson, from Imperial College London, said that findings showed the variant had a statistically significant higher rate of infection among children than other strains.
“There is a hint that it has a higher propensity to infect children ... but we haven’t established any sort of causality on that, but we can see that in the data.”
How are children more likely to be infected?
Prof Wendy Barclay, from Nervtag and Imperial College London, said the virus’s mutation might have made children more susceptible.