States Preparing For Next Covid Wave With Focus On Children

Health administrators have taken heed of trends in the US, where a record number of children have been hospitalised as the Delta variant has surged through unvaccinated populations.

Several states are building facilities with more paediatric beds, plus oxygen, due to concern that children returning to school without being vaccinated will be among the most vulnerable during a third wave of coronavirus infections. Health administrators have taken heed of trends in the United States, where a record number of children have been hospitalised as the coronavirus Delta variant, first detected in India, has surged through unvaccinated populations. During the second wave of infections in India that peaked in April and May, hundreds of thousands of people died for want of oxygen and medical facilities, and now there are concerns that another third wave will gather during the winter months. "We don't know how the virus will behave, but we cannot afford to be unprepared this time around," Suhas Prabhu, who heads the Paediatric Task Force in Maharashtra, said.