Thailand's top virologist has warned that children could become superspreaders of COVID-19, especially for the Omicron coronavirus variant, which is more transmissible than previous strains.
Dr Yong Poovorawan, head of the Center of Excellence in Clinical Virology at Chulalongkorn University's Faculty of Medicine, expressed his concerns in an online post on Monday. He said that because infected children have mild or no symptoms, they can potentially become superspreaders by transmitting the virus to their parents.
According to Dr Yong, there is a high chance of COVID clusters emerging from schools as a result of children's interactions after taking online classes at home for an extended period. He said vaccines for children must be effective in order to keep young people from becoming infected and spreading the virus to others.
He urged parents to boost their immunity by getting vaccinated if they have not been infected so their children can resume normal activities, especially at school.