Coronavirus has not impacted children much: Top Chinese medical expert

The coronavirus has not caused much harm to children including infants, according to a top Chinese medical specialist treating patients in Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak that has turned pandemic.

Studies about coronavirus, which is spreading all over the world like wildfire after surfacing in Wuhan in December last year, show it affected mostly aged and people with various health complications like Diabetes and Hypertension but not much is known about its impact on Children so far.

"There are certain children got infected but the majority of them are doing well, Dr Du Bin, Director of medical ICU, Peking Union Medical college who is heading medical teams treating coronavirus patents in Wuhan during the past several weeks told online media briefing here on Monday.

Du cited three studies including the one published in the Nature magazine on Monday besides his discussions with doctors treating hundreds of virus patients in Wuhan said the virus in all the likelihood, the virus has impacted adults 2.7 times compared to children.

"We currently don't know the rationality behind this phenomenon. But we understand Children who got infected but the majority them exhibited mild disease (symptoms) and all of them recovered in Wuhan, Hubei and other provinces," he said.

World over millions of schools have been closed due to fears of the deadly virus spreading among children.

On March 14, the Chinese Ministry of Education has announced that though the Covid-19 is on slowdown mode schools won't resume until local authorities put the virus outbreak under control and roll out necessary containment measures.

Wang Dengfeng, director of the ministry's working group on epidemic control, said local authorities shall consult experts before reopening schools, and safety of the faculty members should be ensured.

Wang said that the ministry is seeking advice from related departments as well as representatives of students and parents on whether to postpone the college entrance exams and the decisions will be made soon, and local authorities are entitled to decide whether to postpone the exam for the high school candidates.