Cristina Hodgson
THREE children have been infected with coronavirus in Spain.
A four-year-old girl from Madrid tested positive after her father returned from Italy.
The other two have been registered in Castilla-La Mancha.
This is the first time since the Covid-19 outbreak began in Spain that children have been infected.
The pathogen, for reasons still being studied by researchers, does not affect children in the same way as adults.
According to the largest epidemiological study of those infected in China to date, of the more than 44,000 confirmed cases in the country, only 0.9% were among children up to age nine, and 1.2% among children aged 10 to 19.
“From the experience of thousands of cases in China, children are less affected,” said the director of the Centre for Health Coordination and Emergencies, Fernando Simon.
“In general they have a more benign clinical course and the mortality rate is very low.
“Like any disease that affects children, they can be a nucleus of transmission in their families.”
The news comes as Italy ordered the closure of all schools and universities until March 15 due to coronavirus, which has claimed 107 lives in the country.
Officials in Spain have so far not not considered it ‘necessary’ to close the schools where these minors study.
Simon said: “Some classrooms should be quarantined, and schools have been informed, although it is not necessary to close schools.”
Latest reports indicate 223 cases of infection in Spain and two people, with two deaths registered so far.
The coronavirus outbreak is currently affecting 84 countries and territories around the world, with the mortality rate estimated at 3.4% by the World Health Organization.
