Coronavirus: Children made up just 1% of COVID-19 cases in England in first peak – study

Children under 16 made up just 1% of coronavirus cases in the first peak of the virus in England, despite accounting for around 19% of the population, according to a new study.

Authors of the study, led by Public Health England (PHE), said it provides further proof of the “limited role of children” in the COVID-19 pandemic.

It comes as Prime Minister Boris Johnson presses ahead with his plans for all children to return to school full-time in England next month as the coronavirus lockdown is eased.

Schools closed in March in a bid to try to halt the spread of COVID-19, with only vulnerable children and those whose parents are key workers able to attend.

The prime minister has said he has “no doubt” that schools can fully reopen safely.

A PHE analysis of COVID-19 cases in educational settings in England, and the preliminary results of a nationwide study of antibody prevalence in schools, is set to be released “in the coming weeks”.

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson has said the study shows there is little risk of spreading the virus by reopening schools, but it has been reported that the scientists have warned that secondary school pupils transmit it like adults.

In lieu of this analysis, the results of this latest study are likely to be seized on by the PM as evidence that making reopening schools a “national priority” is the right course of action.

The study, published in the Archives of Disease in Childhood journal, found that 129,704 people out of 540,305 tested positive for the coronavirus between 1 January and 3 May.

The first confirmed case involving a child was reported on 29 February, with cases beginning to increase in the second week of March.

A peak was reached on 11 April, before cases declined gradually, a trend that was also seen in adults.

A total of 35,200 tests were carried out on children under the age of 16, with 1,408 cases among kids aged 15.

This equates to around 4% of all children tested having a positive result, compared to 19.1%-34.9% among tested adults.

Children accounted for 1.1% of all cases of coronavirus, when considered in light of positive cases for COVID-19 among all age groups.

A total of 53% were boys.

There were eight deaths of children with the virus during the time the study was being carried out.

In four of the cases, another cause of death was identified and COVID-19 was reported to be “incidental or an indirect contributor to death”, the authors said.

Among four children aged 10 to 15 who died, three had “multiple” other health conditions, they added.

“There has been no increase in excess deaths in children aged 0-15 years until May 3 2020,” the authors said.

In their conclusion, they say their findings add to the “growing body of evidence on the limited role of children in the COVID-19 pandemic”.

They added: “Children accounted for a very small proportion of confirmed cases despite the large numbers of children tested.

“Sars-CoV-2 [COVID-19] positivity was low even in children with acute respiratory infection.

“Our findings provide further evidence against the role of children in infection and transmission of Sars-CoV-2.”

The authors include experts from PHE, the University of Oxford, the Evelina children’s hospital, King’s College London and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

A “key” unanswered question, according to the authors, is whether children who do not display symptoms may be contributing to transmitting the virus.

But they cite separate research which shows low infection rates among children, as well as a separate study which found that among household infections children were “never the first to be infected or to be the source of infection in the household”.

Lead author Dr Shamez Ladhani, from PHE, said it is “still not clear why young children have such a low risk of infection compared to older children or adults”.

He continued: “One theory is that, compared to adults, children have fewer ACE2 receptors which the virus can bind to in cells that line the respiratory tract.

“The way the immune system reacts to the virus is also likely to be different in children compared to adults.

“Whilst these numbers are reassuring for children, they include a long period of complete lockdown where children were less likely to have been exposed to the virus.”

Dr Ladhani said vigilance was needed as the lockdown continues to be eased and children have more contact with other children and adults.

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“In particular, we need more information about asymptomatic infections and silent transmission,” he added.

Professor Russell Viner, president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, said the study confirms international evidence “that children and young people as a group are little affected by this virus, even showing a slight reduction in total excess deaths”.

Dr Mike Tildesley from the University of Warwick, said it provides “further supporting evidence” that the full reopening of schools “should represent an extremely low risk to any individual child”.

He added: “With this in mind, the vast majority of parents should feel reassured regarding the safety of their children when schools reopen, though given the likely role of infected children in transmission, parents and teachers with underlying health conditions may need to take precautions in order to minimise their own risk over the coming months.”

(c) Sky News 2020: Coronavirus: Children made up just 1% of COVID-19 cases in England in first peak – study