Scientists at Princeton University, Johns Hopkins University, University of California have found that children and young adults, who make up only a small percentage of those infected, have played an important role in the spread of coronavirus around the world. This is reported in an article published in the journal Science.
Scientists analyzed about 85 thousand confirmed cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection among 575 thousand people in southeast India to track the likely pathways of infection. It turned out that 71 percent of infected people did not transmit the virus through contact with other people, but eight percent of those infected accounted for 60 percent of new infections.
In India, about one hundred thousand people have died from the coronavirus. The researchers found that death occurred usually six days after hospitalization, compared with the 13-day average in the United States. The highest risk group included people aged 50 to 64 years. However, children and young people, who account for a third of COVID-19 cases, have proven to be particularly important for transmission of the virus to the general public.
