From [HERE] and [HERE] Only six healthy children with no underlying health conditions died as a direct result of catching Covid during a 12-month window, NHS analysis has revealed.

Four died from Covid, while two developed a Kawasaki-like inflammatory condition called Pims-TS, caused by the virus.

The data calls into question the wisdom of closing schoolsand forcing children to spend months at home when the health risk to under-18s is so small.

Experts from NHS England, Public Health England and several universities and hospitals analysed official death figures in England between March last year and this February.

Their findings, published in the journal Nature Medicine on Thursday, showed that more than 3,100 children died during the study period, but only 61 had Covid.

Further examination of death certificates and medical records by independent clinical experts revealed that 25 of the 61 died due to the virus, with the six healthy children a sub-cohort of the 25. The infection played no role in 60 per cent of the recorded Covid deaths.

Prof Russell Viner, one of the study authors and professor of adolescent health at University College London, said: “Any death of a child is one too many, but we sadly must recognise that there are over 3,000 deaths of children and young people in England in ordinary years.

“The great majority of those who died were children and young people we know are sadly at much higher risk of death due to other serious medical conditions. I emphasise that this doesn’t mean children with allergies or asthma, but those very small groups who were vulnerable to winter viruses in any previous year.”

Children ‘have 99.995 per cent chance’ of surviving virus

Fifteen of the Covid/Pims-TS deaths – 60 per cent – were in children considered to be in a “life-limiting” condition, and 19 had a chronic condition. The virus “did not contribute to death” for the majority of the cases where it is listed on a child’s death certificate, the researchers said.

They also said that, during the study period, almost half a million under-18s contracted Covid, giving an infection fatality rate of five per 100,000 people. That means that if a child tests positive for the virus, they have a 99.995 per cent chance of surviving.

With more than 12 million under-18s in England, the researchers said Covid kills two children per million, meaning there is a 0.0002 per cent of a child dying from the virus.

The majority of the children – 72 per cent – who did die due to Covid were older than 10, and only two infants younger than 12 months died from the infection. In contrast, in non-Covid deaths, 46 per cent of all child deaths were in babies less than four weeks old.

Just 16 of the 25 children who died from Covid had comorbidities in two or more body systems and neurological conditions were the most common, affecting 13 people.

“All 13 [children] who died of Sars-Cov-2 with a neurological comorbidity had a complex neurodisability due to a combination of an underlying genetic or metabolic condition, hypoxic ischemic events or prematurity,” the researchers wrote.

“Eight of the 13 who had a neurological comorbidity also had a respiratory comorbidity, including five who required home respiratory support, four with non-invasive ventilation or high-flow oxygen and one with low-flow oxygen.”

No Covid deaths in under-18s with Type 1 diabetes

The study revealed that there were no Covid deaths in under-18s with Type 1 diabetes or Down’s syndrome. None of the 25 children who died from the virus suffered with an isolated respiratory condition such as asthma.

There were children who died who had asthma, but these all had other health conditions and the experts deemed that asthma did not contribute to their death.

While the research was comprehensive and spanned England, it looked only at a time period where the alpha and original strains of the virus were present as the delta variant had yet to take off in the UK.

Delta is more infectious than its predecessors, and child and adolescent infection rates in children have rocketed this year compared to last. However, as yet there is no comparable analysis for the true number of Covid deaths post-February 2021.

Data from the Office for National Statistics showed that, for the whole of 2020, there were 20 deaths in people under 19 which involved, but not necessarily were due to, Covid, whereas figures for 2021 so far show there have been 48.

“We don’t have updated data on this for the last six months, although we will in the future,” said Prof Viner. “Paediatricians across the country believe that these findings still broadly hold – that children are at extremely low risk of death from this virus.

“Most deaths of children with a positive test are not related to Covid but reflect the commonality of infection in the population, and that the children at most risk are those who have always been at higher risk – those with serious other medical conditions.”

Separate research from King’s College London had previously found that children are very unlikely to develop long Covid when compared to adults.

A study published in august found one in 20 children who catch the virus develop long Covid, with the majority making a full recovery in less than a month.

The study showed that the most common symptoms in children were headaches, tiredness, a sore throat and loss of smell.

Molly Kingsley, the co-founder of the campaign group UsForThem, told The Telegraph: “UsforThem have argued since 2020 that pandemic measures must be proportionate and non-damaging to children.

“Whilst every child death is a tragedy, this study reconfirms what we have known for a while – that the vast majority of children are at minimal risk from Covid-19.

“This raises a serious question about the appropriateness of this government’s Covid response as it applies to children – for whom school closures, mask-wearing, exam cancellation and isolation have had a devastating impact.”