Most children with COVID - 19 recover within a week: study

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Most children with COVID - 19 recover within a week: study

ost children with COVID - 19 recover within a week, according to a large U.K. study that can help soothe fears about whether sick children will face the most persistent forms of the disease.

Some 4.4% of 1,734 children with symptomatic COVID in the study experienced symptoms for longer than four weeks, most often fatigue, headaches and loss of smell, researchers said.

The research team followed 250,000 children in the U.K. between five and 17 years old, between September of last year and Feb 22. 'This data is particularly relevant to families, to parents, teachers and children who are affected, said Emma Duncan, associate professor of clinical endocrinology from King's College London and lead author of the study. 'Most children get better with the passage of time.

The results come amid debate about how much to vaccine teenagers. So far, U.K. authorities claim they'll target only 12 - to 17-year-olds with underlying health conditions for COVID shots. Germany, in contrast, is looking to give its slowing inoculation drive a boost by offering shots to all teenagers.

The analysis was performed before the dominant delta variant had arrived in the U.K. although the research team said data pertaining to delta in children has so far matched what was seen with earlier variants.