An-Najah News - More than 2 million children in the United States have contracted the Covid-19 disease caused by infection with the emerging coronavirus, since the start of the pandemic.

According to data released by the American Academy of Pediatrics, nearly 17,000 children contracted COVID-19 in the past week ending December 24.

The academy confirmed that from November 12 to December 24, the country recorded an increase of one million cases of Covid-19 among children.

And the American Academy of Pediatrics reported that, in just two weeks from December 10 to 24, there was a 22 percent increase in COVID-19 cases among children in the country.

The academic report said that children make up 12.4 percent of the total cases of new coronavirus infection in the United States, with a total rate of 2,658 cases per 100,000 children of the population.

The academy noted that there is an urgent need to collect more data on the long-term effects of the epidemic on children, including the ways in which the virus may harm the long-term physical health of infected children, as well as its emotional and mental effects on them.

Cases in the United States have exceeded 19 million and 500 thousand cases, while deaths have exceeded the ceiling of 338 thousand cases, according to Johns Hopkins University statistics.