Since a couple of weeks ago, the spread of infection among children and young people has increased in Sweden.
According to the Swedish Public Health Agency's latest weekly report, people in the age group 0–19 accounted for 18 per cent of the total number of cases reported during week ten.
- Children and young people are usually no different than anyone else.
If it is an old virus, children and young people can be affected more, as with the swine flu.
But now everyone should be equally receptive, says Tomas Bergström.
One of the explanations is believed to be the increase in the contagious British variant, which is now dominant in many regions.
In the results from the Swedish Public Health Agency, the variant was found in more than half of the positive results in most regions.
In some places the prevalence was higher than that, as in the Kalmar Region, where the British variant occurred in 83 per cent of the positive responses.
There, the increased spread has forced schools to take drastic measures.
At the beginning of March, Ljungnässkolan in Mönsterås was forced to close after a virus outbreak with over 50 cases in a short time.
As a result, the municipality also chose to close sports halls, sports facilities and leisure centers.
- There is no difference in how children spread infection.
Children are also human, so the spread depends largely on how much virus you have.
The more viruses, the more contagious you are.