“The second wave of Covid is known to affect the children much more than in the first wave. Also, a reverse trend is being seen that is – children develop symptoms first, and then adults are getting it from them. The difference is while in the first wave most of the children were asymptomatic, in the second wave they are coming with symptoms like fever, cold, dry cough, loose motions, vomiting, not feeding well, fatigue, loss of appetite, among other common symptoms. Few may also have breathing difficulties and rashes like any other viral fever,” he said.

Earlier in mid-March, the country had reported about only five thrombosis cases following usage of AstraZeneca vaccines, the agency further said.

The European Medicines Agency’s (EMA) committee, a couple of weeks earlier, had announced that the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine is “safe and effective” against Covid-19.

“We are also aware that in their report dated March 17, 2021, that the panel concluded that there is insufficient data provided to make a determination on the safety, efficacy and immunogenicity of the Sinopharm vaccine. This observation was made after reviewing all data made available by the manufacturer of the vaccine. It was accordingly concluded that the Sinopharm vaccine should not be used in Sri Lanka under the present circumstances,” the statement read.

“Certain baseline cardiometabolic factors appear to either protect a person from Covid-19 infection while others make a person more vulnerable to infection,” said study author Charles Hong, MD, PhD, professor of medicine and director of cardiology research at the University of Medicine School of Medicine.

Currently, there is no consensus regarding the working definition of re-infection, based only on epidemiological features; a resource intensive method like whole genome sequencing being the only confirmation.