Children aged between five and 11 years wait to get their Covid-19 vaccine during the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme for Kids (PICKids) at Ideal Convention Centre (IDCC) in Shah Alam January 3, 2022. — Picture by Yusof Mat Isa
KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 20 — Children under the age of 18 who are infected with Covid-19 can suffer from multi-system inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C), a critical condition that can occur when there is inflammation of internal organs, especially the heart, lungs and brain.
Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said from June 2020 to December 2021, a total of 174 cases of children under the age of 18 had suffered from MIS-C due to Covid-19 infection, whereby there were 24 cases involving children under the age of one ; children aged one to those under the age of five (38); 5 to those under the age of 9 (64); 9 to children under the age of 12 (36) and 12 and older (11).
“To date, seven cases (4 per cent) of deaths involving children have been caused by MIS-C following Covid-19 infection. Children are also at risk of getting long-Covid (Covid-19 syndrome after the acute phase of infection),” he said in a statement on the development of Covid-19, today.
He said the group of children at high risk for serious Covid-19 infection were paediatric patients with chronic lung disease, heart disease, weakened immune system, diabetes, those undergoing treatment using steroids (such as autoimmune and transplant patients), cancer, asthma and obesity.
As children are now at high risk of being infected with Covid-19, he said one of the main measures to reduce the risk was through self-discipline and vaccination. — Bernama