WHO Official Says Children Can Also Contract COVID-19

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Children are also able to contract the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), and especially those more vulnerable can experience severe symptoms, Executive Director of the World Health Organization's Health Emergencies Programme Michael Ryan said at a press conference on Friday.

"We have an assumption that children are may be getting infected [with the virus] or having mild infections. I, personally, have experience in the past influence epidemics among children with low nutrition, children in ...[refugee camps] and their mortality can be much higher, they are much more vulnerable", Ryan said at a press conference.

Reports have suggested that children in China, which has the biggest share of the world's coronavirus patients, have displayed milder symptoms upon contracting the disease, which mainly include fever, runny nose and cough.

To date, the number of those infected globally has surpassed 100,000, with more than 3,400 fatalities. Over 55,700 people have recovered, according to Johns Hopkins University.

A new coronavirus disease — COVID-19 — was first detected in China's Hubei province in late December 2019, and has since spread worldwide. In late January, the World Health Organization declared a global health emergency in light of the outbreak.