Your children could contract the COVID-19 without your knowledge and even if you realise, you may do so late after they have lived with the disease for a while.

This is after the ministry of health revealed the data showing that 169 children have so far recorded COVID-19 positive result since last year. But the damning revelation from the statistics is that only two those cases were treated in hospitals.

The first one is a case of a 13-year-old from Rubkona, Unity State, whose case was documented as urgent on June 6, 2020. The teenage boy had fever, chills, and coughs and had developed chest pain meaning his situation was deteriorating.  He had no pre-existing conditions but had developed dyspnea.

The other hospitalised case was of a two year-old boy from Uror in Jonglei State, who was taken ill at a hospital on July 5, 2020. He had pre-existing conditions and had the physical symptoms such as fever, runny nose and coughs.

Juba blinks red as the location with the highest underage cases of COVID-19 pandemic. Of the 169 cases, only 30 were noted outside the capital. Malakal has four cases, Abyei (2), Magwi (6) and Nyirol (4). The other cases were from Wau, Torit, Rubkona, Yei and South Bor.

Majority of the cases are of teenagers above 10 years. Their total number, 97, accounts for more than half of the total juvenile cases noted so far.  This could only imply that the closure of schools may have not translated into total safety of the school going children.

Of all the cases, only nine patients displayed symptoms. The rest of the 160 cases were asymptomatic meaning that without proper care, parents or guardians may end up being oblivious of their COVID-19 status.

According to the data, from December 12, 2020, the country noted increase in number of cases from those aiming to travel outside the country. 30 of these cases were children.

The government on February 3 announced a partial lockdown to fight the spread of the virus. The order which was issued by the National Task Force on COVID-19 tossed various measures to curb the disease. Among them was the restriction of gatherings and continued closure of schools. Only learners taking their national examinations were exempted.