Children carry virus in noses for three weeks

CHILDREN can carry coronavirus in their noses for up to three weeks amid fears they could be silently spreading the infection, a South Korean study has found.

As schools prepare to reopen next week, experts said the study emphasised the importance of isolating children once a positive case is identified.

Researchers from Seoul National University College of Medicine analysed 91 children with coronavirus at 22 hospitals across the country. All of them recovered from the virus.

The study found that even among those with few or no symptoms, the virus could be found in their swabs up to three weeks later.

Because South Korea has carried out mass testing, including of people without symptoms, the scientists had a rare opportunity to monitor children with mild symptoms or no symptoms at all.

The researchers said their data suggested that 93 per cent of the children with Covid-19 in South Korea could have been missed “were it not for aggressive diagnostic testing”.

Cases of children with undetected Covid-19 were “worrisome”, they said, because these children could “facilitate the rapid spread” of the virus.

The fact they had detectable virus in their noses, the authors of the study published in JAMA Pediatrics concluded, suggested they were capable of passing it on. The scientists concluded that screening for symptoms fails to identify most Covid-19 cases in children and the virus is detected for an “unexpectedly long time”.