COVID -19 can cause severe illness in children as it claimed the life of a 14-year-old boy last month

A study has found the coronavirus can indeed cause severe or critical illness in children, and killed a 14-year-old boy last month.

New data from coronavirus-infected children in Wuhan, the birthplace of the pandemic, has found they can indeed get seriously ill and confirms the first known child death from the disease.

Much has been made of the fact youngsters are the least likely age group to develop the deadly COVID-19.

But now the biggest study of coronavirus-infected children to date has found the disease does indeed make some youngsters seriously ill — around 6 %— with babies and preschoolers most vulnerable.

A teenager confirmed to have the virus died in China on February 7, with details of his case coming to light for the first time via the paper, published online by the American Academy of Paediatrics.

In response to the new data, the World Health Organisation acknowledged the teen's death and the potential of the virus to make some children very sick.

Researchers looked at 2143 youngsters from Wuhan, where the pandemic began, and surrounding areas within Hubei province. Their ages ranged from one day to 18 years old.

They found a staggering 90 % were asymptomatic, moderate or mild cases. However, 125 children (5.9 %) went on to develop serious or critical illness, including a 14-year-old boy who died, compared to 20 % in adults.

Of the 125, thirteen were considered "critical" and on the brink of respiratory or organ failure. The rest were classified as "severe" because they had dire respiratory problems.