The latest Cyprus national report on the covid pandemic has marked a steady rise of cases in babies, children and teenagers, with the addition of an unusual flow of children being hospitalised with other respiratory infections in public hospital wards.
The trend has alarmed authorities and they are calling on parents to protect their children, keeping them out of school if they display any symptoms. The need to strictly adhere to the measures in place is also stressed, with the government warning that closing down schools for the third year running must not become an option for anyone.
Over the past two weeks, 500 out of the 1815 new covid cases were babies, children and teenagers, with the highest number in the 10 to 19 category with 359,7 cases every 100 thousand children.
The increasing concern is not just about the upward trend in covid cases across primary and secondary education, but also of other viruses, with an unusual number of children needing treatment. The Makareion hospital paediatric ward has reached almost 100% capacity, a rare occurrence for this time of year.
Head of the Health Ministry’s Scientific Advisory Committee Constantinos Tsioutis, warned that children and by extension schools must not be targeted given this increase in cases, noting that most children are infected by adults in their close family environment.
‘We must protect children and work hard to keep schools from closing again’. Tsioutis stressed.
