Largest study confirms children significantly less likely to catch Covid-19

Children and young people are around 40% per cent less likely to be infected than adults when exposed to someone with the virus, finds a new study of global Covid-19 transmission data, co-led by UCL researchers. In this study, published in JAMA Pediatrics , the researchers have updated their previous systematic review* and meta-analysis, published as a preprint in May**, to encompass more than 13,900 studies, to understand how likely it is that children catch Covid-19 (known as susceptibility) and whether they pass it on to others (known as transmission or infectiousness). Lead author Professor Russell Viner (UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health) said: "We have now assessed twice as many COVID-19 contact-tracing and population screening studies, providing more robust data and conclusions. "Our findings show children under 12 to 14 years appear significantly less likely to contract COVID-19 from infected others. "Data for teenagers are less clear and we must therefore assume they are as susceptible as adults. Susceptibility is a key part of the chain of infection, and our findings support the view that children are likely to play a smaller role in transmitting the virus and proliferating the pandemic, although considerable uncertainty remains. "This new data provides further essential evidence to governments around the world to inform their decision-making on keeping schools open during the pandemic." The researchers screened 13,962 studies, published on MedRxiv and PubMed , which allowed them to identify 32 studies from 21 countries with useful data.