Children 20 times more likely to die from an injury than Covid

CHILDREN are almost 20 times as likely to die from an injury than from Covid, national research shows.

The study, led by Newcastle University, also shows that flu kills twice as many children in Britain as coronavirus.

Researchers said the findings, revealed as pupils across the country prepare to return to school, should reassure parents.

The study used annual deaths data to estimate deaths from different causes for children aged nine and under, and those aged 10 to 19 between March 1 and July 31 of this year.

It shows that in the UK, while 57 children aged nine and under are likely to have died from “non intentional injury,” and seven from flu, just three died from Covid. Overall, researchers estimated there were 1,724 deaths among those of this age during the period – meaning that Covid deaths made up just 0.17 per cent of all deaths. Among those aged between 10 and 19, they estimated 44 non-intentional injuries, along with three flu deaths, and 12 from Covid.

Similar patterns were seen across the globe. Across seven countries tracked, there were an estimated 21,966 fatalities among under-19s, including 1,755 deaths from non-intentional injuries, 178 flu deaths and 80 Covid deaths.

Covid deaths therefore represent 0.36 per cent of all estimated deaths in children in the tracked countries over the period, researchers said.

The research examined fatality statistics from America, Italy, Germany, Spain, France and Korea, as well as the UK. For the analysis, mortality data from all causes were extracted from 2017, along with three years’ flu data, and compared with Covid figures.

Researchers said: “Children have sacrificed much to international efforts to contain Covid-19. We know that negative experiences in childhood matter lifelong. Five months of data show that in these countries, children are at much greater risk of death from other elements of normal life, than from Covid-19.”

Lead researcher Dr Sunil Bhopal, from Newcastle University’s Population Health Sciences Institute, said children were at “minimal risk” from Covid, but had suffered greatly as a result of months without school.

He said: “We continue to meet and hear from parents, carers, teachers and others who worry for their children’s safety from Covid-19. We aim to continue to reassure them that this remains a predominantly adult-focused disease.” The study, which is due to be published in Public Health journal, follows a series of research papers demonstrating minimal risks to children

from Covid. Research by Public Health England shows that schools reopening in June did not lead to a single child being admitted to hospital with Covid-19.

The data reveals that despite more than 1.6 million youngsters returning to education, just 70 children tested positive for the virus, and none needed hospital treatment.

Last week a British study found that children made up less than one per cent of all people admitted to hospital with Covid-19. The research involving Edinburgh and Liverpool universities found that the only deaths among children occurred in those with major underlying health conditions such as cerebral palsy or cancer. The study was based on more than 79,000 admissions to hospitals in Britain, around two thirds of all hospitalisations with Covid-19, of which 651 were children.

The report’s author Calum Semple, Professor in Child Health and Outbreak Medicine, University of Liverpool, said: “Severe disease is rare and death is vanishingly rare.”