COVID-19 deaths among people under 20 are extremely rare, with most fatalities occurring in children with specific underlying conditions, a study found.
The researchers found that deaths in England due to COVID-19 are very low in children and young people (CYP), even with the emergence of new variants. Most deaths occurred in individuals with underlying health conditions, they said.
“Ongoing national surveillance continues to demonstrate a very low risk of death in CYP with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection,” they said.
The UK study was published in Plos Medicine on Nov. 8.
Very Low Mortality Rate
The researchers found that COVID-19 was responsible for 1.2 percent of all deaths in CYP “with an Infection Fatality Rate (IFR) of 0.70/100,000 SARS-CoV-2 infections in this age group,” which is 0.0007 percent. The overall mortality rate was found to be 0.61/100,000….