Health Ministry Finds Delta Variant Tends to Infect Children

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Health Ministry discovered that the Delta variant of Covid-19 tends to infect people aged below 18 years based on the observation in a number of regions with a spike in positive cases.

“In some hospitals, there is a tendency for the Delta variant to attack patients under the age of 18, and 10-year-old kids are also infected. That is based on our observation on the differences of this new variant,” said the Acting Director-General of Disease Prevention and Control (P2P) of the Health Ministry, Maxi Rein Rondonuwu, Wednesday, June 23.

The situation, he added, was reported based on a research report on the Whole Genome Sequencing test carried out in Kudus, which mostly recorded the Delta variant case.

“Although the Delta variant cases are also found in Jakarta, almost all Covid cases in Kudus are of Delta variant, mainly in areas that experience a sharp spike in cases,” he added.

Maxi said the clinical symptoms developed by patients with the Delta variant are similar, such as cough, runny nose, fever, and others. “But the Delta variant indeed spreads very fast,” he said.

The Health Ministry official concluded that coronavirus, particularly the Delta variant, could infect people of all ages “When the first dengue case emerged, its first variant only attacked children then after many years, it also infected adults”.

Read: Most Covid-19 Delta Variant Cases Detected in Central Java; Alpha in Jakarta

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