KUALA LUMPUR: Children under the age of 18 who are infected with COVID-19 can suffer from multi-system inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C), a critical condition that can occur when there is inflammation of internal organs, especially the heart, lungs, and brain.

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said from June 2020 to December 2021, a total of 174 cases of children under the age of 18 had suffered from MIS-C due to COVID-19 infection, namely children under the age of one involving 24 cases; children aged 1 to those under the age of 5 (38); 5 to those under the age of 9 (64); 9 to children under the age of 12 (36) and 12 and older (11).

"To date, seven cases (four per cent) of deaths involving children have been caused by MIS-C following COVID-19 infection. Children are also at risk of getting long-COVID (COVID-19 syndrome after the acute phase of infection)," he said in a statement on the development of COVID-19, today.

He said the group of children at high risk for serious COVID-19 infection were paediatric patients with chronic lung disease, heart disease, weakened immune system, diabetes, those undergoing treatment using steroids (such as autoimmune and transplant patients), cancer, asthma, and obesity.

As children are now at high risk of being infected with COVID-19, he said one of the main measures to reduce the risk was through self-discipline and vaccination.

Dr Noor Hisham said the Comirnaty(R) (Pfizer-BioNTech) vaccine had been approved for use in children aged five to 11 in Malaysia and from clinical studies, its effectiveness was at 91 per cent and was able to enhance a high immune response against COVID-19.

He said this could reduce the risk of severe COVID-19 infection.

"The vaccination of children aged 5 to 11 is timely to protect this group, especially children with comorbidities. Children aged 5 to 11 should be given two doses of vaccine with an interval of eight weeks, after the first dose," he said.

Meanwhile, he said there was an increase in daily bed usage of COVID-19 patients among children under the age of 12 due to the increase in cases of virus infection in the country. The increase was more significant in February 2022, especially in categories two to five.

He said from early January to mid-February 2022, a total of 50,826 children under the age of 12 were infected with COVID-19.

Dr Noor Hisham said of the total, 15,817 cases were in category one; 34,857 were in category two; 120 cases (category three); 28 cases (category four) and four cases (category five).

He added that there was an increase in daily bed use of COVID-19 patients involving children aged 11 to 17.

He said this may be due to the spread of the Omicron variant as well as the increased mobility of children in the community following the reopening of school sessions and childcare centres.

Meanwhile, Dr Noor Hisham said that the country recorded 28,825 new cases yesterday (Feb 19), the highest so far, while 18,514 recovered cases were reported.

Of the total, only 95 cases were in categories three, four and five, while the rest were in categories one and two.

"Of the 95 new cases in categories three to five reported yesterday, 28 cases were unvaccinated or those who have yet to be fully vaccinated; 49 cases had received two doses of vaccine; 18 cases had received booster doses; 41 cases were aged 60 and above and 48 cases have comorbidities. There are no cases involving pregnant women," he said.

-- BERNAMA