Over 13.5 million children have tested positive for Covid-19 since the onset of the pandemic in the country, and nearly 395,000 of these cases have been added in the past four weeks, Xinhua news agency reported, citing the report.
About 5.6 million child Covid-19 cases have been added in 2022, said the report, which was released on Monday.
Child cases are far higher than the same time around mid-June one year ago, according to the report.
There is an urgent need to collect more age-specific data to assess the severity of illness related to new variants as well as potential longer-term effects, said the AAP.
“It is important to recognise there are immediate effects of the pandemic on children’s health, but importantly we need to identify and address the long-lasting impacts on the physical, mental, and social well-being of this generation of children and youth,” it said.