Coronavirus infections among children found usually mild: THL

Coronavirus cases diagnosed in children have been very mild, said a press release of the National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), quoting international reports.

The situation is similar in Finland. So far, no child has needed hospital care in Finland due to serious symptoms.

For example in China, around one per cent of infections have been diagnosed in people under 20 years of age, and in the United States, 1.7 of cases have been found in people under 18 years of age.

In most cases, children who have been admitted to hospital have been under one year old.

Slightly over 200 of the cases were diagnosed in people under the age of 16 in Finland till April 30.

Looking at coronavirus infections diagnosed in children, 75% of the cases have been found in the Hospital District of Helsinki and Uusimaa.

Infections diagnosed in children under 16 years of age are distributed by age group as follows:

0–3 years old: 25% of infections, 4–7 years old: 17% of infections, 8–11 years old: 26% of infections, 12–15 years old: 32% of infections.

Children's infections are known to often be completely asymptomatic as well.

“Although coronavirus can be transmitted by an asymptomatic virus carrier, people with symptoms are clearly more infectious than those with no symptoms or mild symptoms. That is why the virus is not circulating among children equally actively”, said Otto Helve, pediatric specialist in infectious disease of THL.