Children aged 5 to 11 in S'pore have highest Covid-19 infection rate

Omicron affecting children more.

Belmont Lay | February 10, 2022, 06:08 PM

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Children aged five to 11 in Singapore have the highest rate of Covid-19 infection.

Health Minister Ong Ye Kung said this on Feb. 8 at the Singapore Health Quality Service Awards 2022 at the Singapore General Hospital Campus where he was guest of honour.

Ong added that the Omicron variant is more likely to infect children than the Delta variant.

The infection rate among children aged five to 11 years old is 67 per 100,000.

The infection rate among those slightly older aged 12 to 19 years old is 55 per 100,000.

Implications

He said hospitals need to ensure there are sufficient paediatric beds, but they were not as stressed as during the Delta wave.

Ong said: "This is quite different as compared to during the Delta wave, which mostly infected older adults."

He added that the infection rate among older age groups is lower with the Omicron spread.

"With more children and young people getting infected, severe cases are inevitable and we need to ensure that there are sufficient beds for them," he said.

Treatment facilities, such as Connect@Changi at Expo, as well as public and private hospitals are setting aside more beds.

On the bright side, children hospitalised due to Covid-19 stay for only two to three days.

Go get vaccinated and boostered

Ong also stressed that vaccines and booster shots make a significant difference when individuals get infected with Covid-19.

A person aged 60 who is not fully vaccinated is 10 times as likely to fall severely sick when infected with Omicron compared with a person of the same age who has taken the booster shot, Ong said.

Top photo via Unsplash

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