THE number of children below the age of 12 with Covid-19 has increased compared with the last two years, with 119,719 cases since the beginning of the year alone, Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said today.

He said in 2020, there were only 7,730 infections among newborns to those aged 11 years. This increased significantly to 379,245 last year.

“From January to mid-February, there were 50,826 infected children below 12,” he told a press conference today.

“There was a 68,893 increase between mid-February and March. This takes the total number of children infected between January and mid-March to 119,719.”

Khairy said there was also an increase in hospital bed utilisation among children below the age of 12 between January and February.

“The admission of children to the paediatric intensive care unit increased by 94% for those in category 3 to 5,” he said.

“For category 4, there is a 200% increase while for category 5, there is a 125% increase.”

He said children with Covid-19 also show multi-system inflammatory syndrome (MIS-C), which affects the heart, lung and brain.

“Between June 2020 and December 2021, 174 children below the age of 18 have been affected by MIS-C,” he said.

“So far, there have been seven deaths (4%) linked to MIS-C.”

In terms of vaccination for children aged between five and 11, only 30% have received at least one dose of a vaccine.

To date, 1.63 million appointments for children have been given out but only one million showed up. – March 9, 2022.