KUALA LUMPUR: Approximately 270,000 children under the age of 12 were infected with Covid-19 between July and December last year, says Deputy Health Minister Datuk Dr Noor Azmi Ghazali.

       He said of the number, 63 children had succumbed to the infection.

       Also, based on a study at 14 government hospitals nationwide, 174 Multi-system Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MISC) cases were detected in the same period.

       "Fifty-six per cent or 100 of the MISC cases involved those aged between five and 12 with 4% mortality rate,” he said in a guest appearance on Bernama TV’s "The Nation" programme Tuesday (Feb 15).

       Dr Noor Azmi, who is also chairman of the Covid-19 Immunisation Task Force for Children (CITF-C), said it was important for children to be vaccinated as they are at risk of complications from the infection such as namely the MISC which leads to inflammation and impact on various organs, as well as "Long Covid".

       The National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme for Children (PICKids) kicked off on Feb 3, targeting 3.6 million children aged five to 11.

       It also aims to ensure that the infection risk in schools can be contained, thus preventing clusters among schoolchildren.

       As of Monday (Feb 14), a total of 206,748 or 5.8% of children aged five to 11 in the country have received the first dose of Covid-19 vaccine. – Bernama