Parents must ensure children are washing their hands regularly and for at least 20 seconds to minimise the spread of coronavirus. Even if a child isn't experiencing symptoms, they could be a silent carrier and pass the virus on to a more vulnerable person like an older relative. Stop the spreadĪlthough children tend to be less severely affected by COVID-19, parents must remember that kids can still spread it. Some researchers think that because children's immune systems are less likely to overreact to the virus, their lungs are protected from serious damage. But children's immune systems are quite used to encountering illnesses they haven't met before, which may be why they are better at responding to coronavirus.Īn excessive immune reaction to COVID-19 can cause serious (and potentially fatal) complications. We don't know enough about COVID-19 to be sure yet, but scientists believe children may generally experience milder symptoms than adults because of how their immune systems work.Īs COVID-19 is a new illness that we haven't been exposed to before, none of us has built up any sort of defence to it. While young children are one of the groups that are most vulnerable to illnesses like flu, coronavirus seems to be a different scenario. And that's what makes it so terrifying,' says Dr Gero Baiarda, a GP at GPDQ. Nobody knows how it's going to affect you. But even so, it's a bit of a Russian roulette if you catch this. 'Children are the least likely to die from coronavirus.

However, although the risk of a child experiencing a serious case of coronavirus is low, it’s not impossible. Reading about these tragic cases is likely to cause parents understandable anxiety, but reassuringly these incidents appear to be very rare.

'We have seen very young people die, with no known underlying conditions.' 'Unfortunately children can get seriously ill with coronavirus,' points out GP Dr Adwoa Danso. But while young, fit people do appear to be far less likely to experience serious complications from COVID-19, even the healthiest (and youngest) of us could experience severe symptoms.Ī study from China of more than 2,000 children who had contracted COVID-19 found that although the cases were generally less severe in kids compared to adults, children were still vulnerable to infection. Researchers at Imperial College London have found a clear link between older age and the likelihood of being hospitalised with coronavirus. And there have been a small number of tragic reports of children dying from COVID-19. The youngest cases have been infants only a few days old. But that doesn't mean kids can't catch the virus and become seriously poorly. Older people and those with underlying health problems are more likely to experience severe forms of the illness.

The coronavirus crisis is affecting us all, but some groups appear to be more vulnerable than others to the disease.

New findings become seriously ill from