More than 45,000 children have contracted COVID – Health Minister

By Saman Indrajith

Health Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi told Parliament yesterday that 45,831 children had contracted COVID-19 as of yesterday.

Responding to a query raised by Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa, the minister said that 14 deaths of COVOID-19 patients below the age of 18 had been reported so far.

She said that there had been reports of 19,688 children below the age of ten years being infected with the virus. There are 26,143 COVID-19 infected children between 10-18 years of age, the minister said, adding that the number of infected children was on the rise.

Of the 14 children who died of Covid-19, seven were below 5 years, three children between 6 and 10 years and two children between 11and 15 years and two children between 16 and 18 years, the minister said.