SINGAPORE – Even as more than 40 students and pupils from some 30 schools have come down with Covid-19 in the past month, there is insufficient evidence to conclude that children are now more prone to being infected with the virus, and the rise in infections is likely to be the result of them being in close proximity with one another, experts said.
The new variants that are circulating are generally more contagious as well, they noted.
The rise in infections includes a cluster at Learning Point tuition centre, which has 28 cases as at Friday (May 21).
On that same day, Singapore also reported its first incidence of school-based transmission.
But there is little to suggest that the strains of the virus that are currently circulating are more likely to infect children, said Professor Paul Tambyah, deputy director of the National University of Singapore (NUS) Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine’s Infectious Diseases Translational Research Programme.
Rather, the reason more children have returned positive Covid-19 tests is due to the cluster environment, such as a tuition centre or a school bus, both of which have become the epicentres of two large clusters, Prof Tambyah said.
Current evidence also does not point to children being more likely to be infected with the B1617 variant than with the original strain. Official data from the Press Trust of India news agency suggest that the proportion of children infected during the first and second waves of the pandemic in India is similar, he added.
Associate Professor Sylvie Alonso, co-director of NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine’s Infectious Diseases Translational Research Programme, said that more aggressive testing among the younger age group could also be a reason that more cases have surfaced.
“We seem to also see that the B1617 variant is overall more transmissible than the previous variants – across all age groups – hence affecting more children as well,” Prof Alonso added.
Associate Professor Hsu Li Yang, vice-dean of global health at the NUS’ Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, said that the risk of severe disease for those under the age of 18 is much lower than for adults, noting that those under that age are still less susceptible to infection.
“Babies under one and children with underlying medical conditions such as diabetes and chronic lung disease may be more likely to get severe Covid-19, but generally those under the age of 18 are far less likely to get severe Covid-19 compared with adults,” he said.
There is, however, a very rare and serious condition, known as multi-system inflammatory syndrome – a condition where different body parts can become inflamed – that is only seen in children and is associated with Covid-19 infection, but Singapore has yet to see a case, Prof Hsu added.
However, children remain a weak link in Singapore’s fight against Covid-19.
Young children tend not to be able to wear masks or observe safe distancing measures well, Prof Hsu said.
“So even though they are individually less at risk for serious illness or for spreading the virus, collectively the risk will add up, particularly at tuition centres and other enrichment classes, and play locations where children from multiple schools typically congregate,” he said.
Prof Alonso said that children who are infected can also be carriers and transmitters of the virus without realising it, because they will be mostly asymptomatic. She added that this will be a concern if they transmit the virus to vulnerable people in their household who could develop a severe form of the disease.
Prof Tambyah said: “Hence the idea of vaccinating this age group is a way to protect the vulnerable.”
The Health Sciences Authority (HSA) on Tuesday (May 18) extended its authorisation for those aged 12 to 15 to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
