Guwahati, June 29: Over 12 per cent of the total of 2,80,504 Covid positive patients in Assam are children up to the age of 18 years infected by the contagious virus in approximately three months.

Officials of the National Health Mission (NHM), Assam on Monday informed that from April 1 to June 26, 2021, 34 children have succumbed to the Covid-19.

“Out of the total of 2, 80,504 Covid positive people, 34,606 (12.33 per cent) are children within the age group of 0 to 18 years that were found infected with the infectious coronavirus. Further analysis showed that out of the total of 34,606 children, 5,755 children belonged to less than 5 years and 28,851 are 6 to 18 years age groups,” a senior official of NHM Assam said.

Out of the 34 districts in Assam, Nagaon district accounted for the highest percentage of children that tested positive at 14.38 per cent during April 1 to June 26 followed by Sonitpur (13.89 per cent), Dibrugarh (12.19 per cent), Kamrup Rural (11.75 per cent) and 10.04 per cent children tested positive in the Kamrup Metro district, where state’s two main cities Guwahati and Dispur are located.

A statement from the NHM Assam said that many of the 34 children fatalities had co-morbidities like Congenital Diseases (heart, kidney, rare malformations), especially among those less than 5 years.

The ongoing Assam Community Surveillance Program Phase-three (ACSP 3) found that many children staying with Covid positive parents and guardians, who have opted for home isolation, were subsequently tested for the virus, the statement said.

It said that it is being advised that parents and guardians who have tested Covid positive should preferably opt for institutional quarantine instead of home quarantine so that the spread of Covid-19 among children can be prevented.

Health Department is strictly following the guidelines issued by Government of India with regard to paediatric covid management and has already initiated a slew of steps to address and manage Covid infection among the vulnerable age groups.

Establishment of Covid Paediatric ICUs in all Medical Colleges and District Hospitals are at an advanced stage, the statement said.

More than 5,000 health care workers including Doctors, Nurses and paramedical staff have already been trained and are dealing with the patients so that maximum lives can be saved.