Coronavirus: Most commonly identified COVID symptoms in kids

Battling COVID-19 can be a hard battle for kids, even if they are rarely infected or undergo mild infection in comparison to adults.

Even as most kids stand to miss out on receiving priority doses of COVID vaccines right now, newer studies suggest that the newest coronavirus strain also carries potentially threatening complications for the kids- meaning that they are much more likely to get infected, spread the disease and may even be long haulers.

While many kids with COVID-19 can present symptoms differently than adults, they also suffer from less severe forms of illness, have delayed progression of symptoms and mount a weaker antibody response than others.

Earlier studies have pointed out that over 1/3rd of pediatric COVID cases are asymptomatic in nature. However, there is also a high prevalence of symptoms amongst the little ones- some of which may be very different than what adults experience. Since kids can also transmit the viral load for a longer time, it's important to keep the kids safe and well-protected, before we are able to secure access to a COVID vaccine for them.

We tell you about some of the most common and pressing coronavirus symptoms known to affect kids:

Much like adults, COVID-19 could stem off as a respiratory virus and result in dry cough, sore throat. Kids who develop a low-grade fever were also more likely to test positive for the viral infection.

It should be noted that cough is also one of the most prevalent signs of infection amongst adults, present in over 75-80% of the cases, be it mild or severe.

While a runny nose alone isn't a typical COVID symptom, runny nose with congested throat could be some of the earliest signs of coronavirus infection.

While runny nose should never be dismissed as a sign of cold and flu, doctors also say that cold and related influenza-like symptoms were also common complaints in kids who test negative. Hence, make sure you watch out for other typical COVID symptoms.

COVID toes, or unexpected skin rashes have been a COVID symptom that could strike kids. In fact, it was one of the earliest reported symptoms which emerged in May 2020.

Likened with chilblains (painful inflammation of small blood vessels in your skin), the occurrence of unusual redness, inflammatory rashes, scratchy skin and swollen fingers and toes could be warning signs of trouble. While the cause is yet unknown, seeking attention at the earliest is important.

The precedence of inflammatory headaches and pain amongst kids is less commonly seen. However, with COVID, a headache could become an unpleasant side-effect kids may have to battle. As compared to 14% of adults, headaches affected over 55% of kids who were screened for COVID symptoms and found positive.

A number of studies have suggested that anosmia and aphagia were seven times more likely to strike kids found to be COVID-19 positive, which means they are also at a higher risk of suffering from appetite loss, fatigue and weakness, which are some of the other signs of an active infection you should be looking at.

A Canadian study also emphasized that kids with the cluster of symptoms detailed above were much more likely to test positive and suffer from severe strains of the infection than the ones who didn't.

Diarrhoea, upset stomach, cramps, difficulty eating, nausea could be some of the other tell-tale COVID signs to look for.

While gut trouble and stomach problems tend to affect adults in severe cases more often, it could be much more common in kids with even milder forms of the infection.