In Brunei Darussalam, around 25 percent of the total number of cases are those under 18 years of age. 2 deaths among children linked to COVID-19 infection in the country are children with other health problems and both have not received the COVID-19 vaccination. There are at least 4 cases of ‘Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children’ or MISC which has been reported among children in the country after being infected with COVID-19. All of the cases experienced only mild signs of infection or symptoms while being infected with COVID-19 and are fully recovered after experiencing MISC. Meanwhile, several post-COVID-19 cases have also been recorded.
According to WHO, despite the low risk of adverse effects from COVID-19, children and adolescents are significantly affected by COVID-19 control measures which includes school closures, travel control and control of conducting sports and leisure activities. Among the effects on adolescents also include mental health issues, disruption of education, increased emotional distress and other health problems including obesity.
Preliminary findings from an international study conducted by UNICEF and Gallup and involving children and adults in 21 countries for which the findings were published in The State of the World’s Children 2021, 1 in 5 individual admitted to feeling depressed and loss of interest in any activity. Recent data from UNICEF has also shown that globally, 1 in every 8 children is directly affected by lockdown with more than 1.6 billion children suffering from loss of education. A study conducted in Singapore has evaluated the effect of school closures and reduction of outdoor activities due to COVID-19 between April to June 2020 in which the study found that the median weight of school children aged between 9 to 11 years increased from 28.8 kilogram before February 2020 to 38.3 kilogram after August 2020.
Source: Radio Television Brunei