1 in 9 children are COVID-19 positive: UNICEF

NEW DELHI: United Nations International Children Emergency Fund (UNICEF) has analysed that with disrupted health and education sector during COVID-19, vulnerabilities of women and children have increased a lot. According to the report released by the world body, as of November 3, children and adolescents accounted for 11 per cent of the 25.7 million COVID-19 infections reported across 87 countries.

Henrietta Fore, Executive Director, UNICEF said that there is misconception that children are least affected by novel coronavirus and children can get affected and also can spread the infection around. The longer the crisis exists in the pandemic, larger will be the threat to children’s education, health, nutrition, etc., he added. The report mentioned that a third of the countries analysed have witnessed a drop of at least 10 per cent of health services. Coverage of nutrition for women and children across 135 countries has declined by almost 40 per cent, the report said.

Schools are not the main driver of community transmission and the children are more likely to get the virus outside of school settings, report said. It also recommended that bridging the digital divide to ensure all children were able to access school learning and guaranteed provision of nutrition and health services. It also appealed to all the nations that the y should take steps to curb child poverty across the world.