Very few children and teenagers infected with COVID-19 have long-term symptoms, a new study suggests.
Researchers from Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts, looked at more than 5,000 under-18s who contracted the virus.
They found that fewer than one in 10 children were battling so-called 'long Covid' three to five months after first testing positive.
Only 15 percent developed symptoms at any point during their infections, with most seeing symptoms disappear within 30 days.
The team says that the findings suggest long Covid is not as much of a concern among minors as it is among adults.
A new study looked at more than 5,000 children and teens who tested positive for COVID-19 between March 2020 and April 2021 (file image)
The study found that 14.8% of children had symptoms between 14 and 30 days after testing positive, which fell to 7.2% having symptoms three months or later
Long Covid appears in patients that have recovered from the virus and continue exhibiting symptoms for weeks, or potentially months or years, after clearing the infection.
There are a wide-array of symptoms that can appear, including continued loss of taste and smell, long-term fatigue and long-term sensory issues.
The causes of the condition remain unknown and several studies are being conducted to examine long-term effects.
Some theories of what causes long Covid include
