Pediatrician Mihai Craiu told Digi24 that the Delta strain is five times more contagious than the initial one and that babies and older children who have serious illnesses have a very high risk of infection.
At the same time, he warned that adolescents have an additional risk because they can develop multisystemic inflammatory syndrome (MIS-C) that can leave side effects.
The doctor said that more Covid-19 infections are expected to occur in children.
“There will be more infected children, but with severe diseases that require hospitalization, we do not expect the same proportion as in adults. The vast majority of infected children have very mild forms or no symptoms at all. The patients who are now in intensive care in Romania are children who either previously had a serious condition, a very important comorbidity, or are extremely young. At great risk are children in the first months of life or older who have serious illnesses,” said the doctor.
The pediatrician also warned that one in 10 children remains with some symptoms even a few months after the disease has passed.