A total of 41 children have died from COVID-19 so far this year, which is almost a seven-fold jump from the six fatalities reported throughout last year.

According to Health Ministry data, the majority of deaths occurred in the 13-17 age group (16 cases), followed by children aged below four (15 cases), and nine in the 7-12 age group, and one child in the 5-6 age group.

In comparison, only three children aged below four died from the virus last year, followed by two teenagers in the 13-17 age group, and one from the 7-12 age group, in the same period.

The data shows that the total number of COVID-19 cases involving children have increased more than 25 fold until August 30, compared to the whole of last year.

A total of 310,074 COVID-19 cases involving children have been recorded until August, compared to the 12,620 reported the whole of 2020.

Children aged between seven and 12 made the bulk of this year's statistics, with 106,823 infected by the virus, followed by teenagers aged between 13 and 17, with 89,087 cases. Toddlers aged below four followed suit with 81,168 cases, while there were 32,996 cases involving kids aged five to six years.


Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin recently said that the government has yet to decide on vaccinating children aged 12 and below against COVID-19.

Earlier, Putrajaya had agreed to vaccinate children aged between 12 and 17, beginning with those with underlying medical conditions, in view of the looming school reopening next month. The exercise is set to begin on September 15.

A total of 1.76 million COVID-19 cases and 16,942 deaths from the virus have been recorded in the country so far.

The global coronavirus infection and death tally has surpassed 219 million, and 4.54 million, respectively.


Photo source: Malay Mail