Long Covid has a minimal impact on children who recover in less than a week from killer virus, study shows

THERE is very little risk of children suffering from "long Covid" as kids shake off the virus in less than a week, new research shows.

Youngsters account for a tiny amount of coronavirus cases and deaths as the disease impacts older and those with underlying health issues.

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But until now, there has been little research on whether so-called "long Covid" impacts children.

The condition sees patients suffering from symptoms such as fatigue, brain fog and shortness of breath for months after being infected.

A new study of more than 2,500 kids has demonstrated just how resilient young people are to the respiratory disease.

Children in the research were assessed at four and eight weeks after symptoms emerged. They were also compared to kids who had other illnesses with similar symptoms.

Professor Emma Duncan, of King's College London and Guy's and St Thomas', told the Telegraph: "It does happen where children with Covid have symptoms for more than four weeks, but it is a much smaller proportion than adults.

"In kids, we are talking fewer than one in 20 and for symptoms of more than eight weeks it's less than two per cent."

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The researchers found that kids recovered from Covid-19 in less than seven days on average.

They found that there was a greater "burden of disease" on young people who were ill with something other than the coronavirus.

Professor Duncan said: "Most parents can be assured that if they [children] have symptomatic Covid-19, they will get better and things will settle down in a short period of time.

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"At the moment, the biggest public health issue worldwide is Covid-19 but we shouldn't throw the baby out with the bathwater – kids do get sick with other things and we should look after them as well."

According to the ONS, just 15 kids aged under 15 have died from Covid in the UK since the pandemic began.

And NHS figures show that 40 under-19s have died from the disease in the country and only eight of those had no underlying health issues.