Increased child COVID-19 cases in Sweden blamed on virus variant

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases among children is increasing in Sweden. Two weeks ago, nearly one in five new infections was found in people aged 19 or younger, reported Xinhua on Wednesday, quoting the daily Dagens Nyheter.

In comparison, less than 13 percent of the infections confirmed since the beginning of the pandemic involved people younger than 19, according to the Public Health Agency.

The coronavirus strain first discovered in the United Kingdom (UK) is believed to have accelerated the spread of the virus, Dagens Nyheter said.

"We know that it is more contagious, and now we see that as much as 75 percent of all infections in the region were caused by the UK variant," Johanna Wiechel Steier, communications director in the Halland Region in the southwest of the country, told the newspaper.

Nearly 600 children aged nine or younger and around 3,700 people in the ten to 19 age group have been confirmed to have been infected with the strain in Halland.

The mutation is also the dominant strain in the Stockholm region and in the Jonkoping and Kalmar regions in the south.

Pressure is mounting on schools and preschools in many of Sweden's regions, with an increasing number of educational institutions switching to distance learning.

In their most recent situation report, Sweden's County Administrative Boards warn of "significant difficulties" in maintaining the quality of teaching as a result of distance schooling.

"It can affect the children's ability to get a final grade that they need to enter university and college," the report said.