ISLAMABAD: A joint research project carried out by top Pakistani medical facilities and research institutions showed a 13% greater mortality ratio among Pakistani children due to the coronavirus compared to the developed world since March 2020. 

The study focused on children with moderate to severe disease, the principal author of the study said on Saturday.

The research was conducted in four countries in collaboration with the World Health Organization. The institutes involved are Aga Khan University Hospital, National Institute of Child Health, National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases in Karachi, Children Hospital and Institute of Child Health in Lahore and Benazir Bhutto Hospital in Rawalpindi.

The main author of the study said the findings required more careful interpretation.

“These results need to be interpreted with following considerations,” said Dr. Qalb Abbas, who works with the department of pediatrics and child health with Aga Khan University. “These children had moderate to very severe disease, were admitted in one of the tertiary care hospitals, and one-third had some comorbidity while one-third were malnourished.”

Explaining the methodology of the research, he said over 1,100 cases were chosen for the study in which children had COVID-19 infection and were admitted in hospitals.

The overall survival rate among these cases was found to be 86% while it was 80% among children with comorbidities.

Abbas said similar studies had also been carried out in India, South Africa and Ethiopia, though he added that their results were still to be published.

Pakistan reported its first case of the coronavirus in February 2020 after which authorities imposed strict lockdowns in different parts of the country to control the virus spread.