US sees record number of children in hospital with COVID

More than 1,900 children are hospitalised for coronavirus across the US, which is being hit hard by the Delta variant.

The number of children hospitalised with COVID-19 has hit a record-high in the United States, which continues to grapple with the rapid spread of the highly contagious Delta variant, especially in areas with low vaccination rates. Paediatric hospitalisations hit 1,902 on Saturday, according to data from the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) – accounting for about 2.4 percent of the country’s total coronavirus-related hospitalisations. Children below 12 years of age are not eligible to receive the coronavirus vaccine, leaving them more vulnerable to infection from the highly transmissible variant.