U.S. reports nearly 68,000 weekly child COVID-19 cases

LOS ANGELES, July 12 (Xinhua) -- Nearly 68,000 child COVID-19 cases were reported across the United States in the week ending July 7, according to a report released on Monday by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Children's Hospital Association.

Over 13.8 million children had tested positive for COVID-19 since the onset of the pandemic in the country, and nearly 295,000 of these cases had been added in the past four weeks, according to the report.

Over 5.9 million child COVID-19 cases had been added in 2022, said the report.

Since the pandemic began, children represented 18.7 percent of total cumulated cases in the United States, 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 recognize 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.