Understanding how Covid-19 impacts children is crucial in slowing pandemic

The researchers cautioned that children, even when not showing any symptoms, could play a "major role" in disease transmission

Researchers have cautioned that it is critical to understand how the novel coronavirus, which causes the disease Covid-19, affects kids, in order to model the pandemic accurately, limit its spread, and ensure that the youngest patients get the care they need.

The clinicians, including Steven L Zeichner from the University of Virginia Health System in the US, said a small percentage of children infected with the coronavirus become seriously ill, adding that those at high risk are babies and preschoolers.

"Many infectious diseases affect children differently than adults and understanding those differences can yield important insights," the scientists wrote in a commentary, published