The authorities in the upscale New York City, the epicentre of the coronavirus pandemic in the US, are investigating 110 COVID-19 cases related to a rare inflammatory illness in children that has claimed three lives, the city's Governor has said, describing the situation as "serious".
The severe illness in children and child deaths is linked to the serious inflammatory disease called 'Pediatric Multi-System Inflammatory Syndrome Associated with COVID-19'.
So far, two boys aged 5 and 7 years and an 18-year-old girl have died due to the illness.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said at his daily coronavirus briefing on Thursday said that the New York State Department of Health was now looking at 110 cases of a COVID-related illness in children, similar to the Kawasaki disease or toxic shock-like syndrome, describing the situation as "serious and concerning".
He said the New York State and Department of Health were at the forefront in the US in investigating the rare illness. Apart from New York, 16 other states are also seeing similar cases.
Warning that cases could grow in coming weeks and days, Cuomo said parents should beware and immediately seek medical help if the child has a prolonged fever (more than five days), difficulty in feeding (in infants) or is too sick to drink fluids, has severe abdominal pain, diarrhea or vomiting, change in skin colour, trouble in breathing, lethargy, irritability or confusion.
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"Also, it tends to present in children who were exposed to the COVID virus and actually now have the antibodies from the COVID virus or still test positive for the COVID virus," Cuomo said.
The illness is affecting children from less than one year old to 21 years old.
"When you look at over the 100 cases, that's the span, which is obviously a very frightening development," he said.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said the occurrence of the rare illness in children linked to COVID19 "is really troubling" since children consistently seemed to have very little effect from the coronavirus so far.
"I say it as a parent, it's really troubling to see now after we thought we understood a consistent pattern, something new has been happening and the pediatric multi-system inflammatory syndrome is a deep concern and we're going to throw everything we've got at it," he said.
The number of children affected continues to grow and while it is still a rare condition, the city's health authorities are taking it very seriously and "we're now on high alert and addressing because the numbers have grown."