KATHMANDU: With the second wave of COVID-19 in the country, children have been the most vulnerable to the pandemic, according to the statistics provided by the Ministry of Health and Population.

There has been a significant rise in COVID-19 infection cases among students in some schools. Similarly, the graph of the children infected with COVID-19 is getting higher in the districts including Bhaktapur, Kathmandu, Lalitpur, Dhading, Baglung and Kavre.

Fourteen among 16 children who underwent PCR screenings in Netrawati rural municipality-4 of Dhading district Friday tested positive for COVID-19. Of them, 10 out of 14 are students.

According to the Ministry, as many as 226 children below 18 years of age were infected with COVID-19 on April 23.  Similarly, 196 tested positive for COVID-19 on April 22, 249 on April 21, 167 on April 20, 91 on April 19, 100 on April 18 and 281 were diagnosed with the coronavirus between April 14 to 17.

According to the Ministry, as many as 23,137 children have been infected with COVID-19 in the past one year. Similarly, 40 children have died from the virus during the period, informed Dr Samir Kumar Adhikari, deputy spokesperson at the Health Ministry.

The number of infection cases among the children has been higher in the last few days in Nepal.

Out of 337 confirmed COVID-19 cases on April 10, 52 were below 18 years of age.

Similarly, 288 people who tested positive for COVID-19 on April 11, 34 were children, according to Dr Adhikari.  With the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic hitting the county, the graph of COVID-19 cases among children is getting higher.