Young children in Brazil are dying from coronavirus, as its national death toll ticked past 500,000 yesterday.
On top of the rising number of child deaths, researchers in Sao Paulo believe the P1 variant, also known as the Gamma variant, is killing an unusually high number of pregnant women and unborn babies.
The Brazilian health ministry states 1122 children under the age of 10 have died since the start of the pandemic, but one research group claims the number is closer to 3000.
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NGO Vital Strategies said more than 1000 children have lost their lives this year alone.
Some experts believe Brazilian paediatricians are reluctant to conduct COVID-19 testing on young children, allowing the virus to cause sometimes fatal sickness.
The tell-tale symptoms of the virus – runny nose, coughing and sore throats – are common among the young, which means doctors can miss a proper diagnosis.
Brazil, where the highly transmissible Gamma variant is dominant, is currently averaging 2500 deaths a day.
Current figures show 42 pregnant women are dying every week from COVID-19, up from 10 each week last year.
Doctors fear that weekly number could rise to over 100.
Pregnant women with COVID-19 are being intubated and their premature children are being delivered by caesarean section, sometimes leading to deaths.
When the pandemic began last year, the coronavirus appeared to affect children much less than adults.
But the Gamma variant is now accounting for nine out of 10 coronavirus cases in Brazil.
While known to be more transmissible, it is so far uncertain if Gamma causes more deaths among children.
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Brazil's president Jair Bolsonaro has been criticised over his response to the pandemic.
He still refuses to take the vaccine and has played down the danger of coronavirus.
Mr Bolsonaro still discourages the use of face masks anywhere.
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