London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 30, 2025

Children behind rising demand for virus tests

Children behind rising demand for virus tests

Demand for coronavirus tests has almost trebled among young children in England this month - but only 1% were found to have the virus, figures show.

In the first two weeks of September, more than 200,000 under-nines were tested, according to government's test-and-trace programme.

That is nearly three times as many as in the previous fortnight.

A large study review has also confirmed that children are less likely to be infected than adults.

But the role that children and adolescents play in transmitting the virus "remains unclear", it said.

Government figures reveal that in England demand for tests increased across all age groups under 40, but was particularly noticeable among the under-20s.

This sharp rise in demand coincided with children returning to school in England.

Combined with an increase in cases among young people and lab testing capacity being reached, this put pressure on the system and led to delays in accessing tests.

Only 1% of those children who had a test actually had the virus, compared with 3.5% in older age groups, including adolescents, and people in their 20s and 30s.

More demand, less risk


Symptoms caused by colds and flu viruses shared around children who hadn't mixed for many months may have been a factor in the increased demand.

As winter approaches, when respiratory viruses are common and the symptoms overlap with coronavirus, even greater demand could be created among younger age groups.

But if children do become infected with the virus, they are at very low risk of becoming severely ill or dying from Covid-19.

Writing in JAMA Pediatrics, a UK-led research team found that children and adolescents under the age of 20 had 44% lower odds of being infected with Sars-CoV-2 - the scientific name given to the coronavirus - than adults over 20. This was particularly apparent in children younger than 10.

This chimes with a previous finding that the under-20s are approximately half as susceptible to the virus as adults.

The latest review based its findings on 32 studies from 21 countries, mostly in East Asia and Europe, involving nearly 42,000 children and adolescents and 270,000 adults.

But the researchers were not able to come to any conclusions on whether children were any less likely to pass on the virus than adults.

Children are more likely to be asymptomatic when infected. The theory is that if they are not coughing or unwell with the virus, they are less likely to infect others.

So their role in transmission may be down to their risk of exposure, the quantity of the virus, or viral load, they develop, their behaviour and the social contacts they make across age groups.

The researchers said larger contact-tracing studies were needed to find out more about how the virus is spread by adults and children.

Now that children throughout the UK are back at school, the need to understand this aspect of the virus is even more pressing.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
UK and Vietnam Sign Landmark Migration Deal to Fast-Track Returns of Irregular Arrivals
UK Drug-Pricing Overhaul Essential for Life-Sciences Ambition, Says GSK Chief
Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie Temporarily Leave the UK Amid Their Parents’ Royal Fallout
UK Weighs Early End to Oil and Gas Windfall Tax as Reeves Seeks Investment Commitments
UK Retail Inflation Slows as Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since Spring
Next Raises Full-Year Profit Guidance After Strong Third-Quarter Performance
Reform UK’s Lee Anderson Admits to 'Gaming' Benefits System While Advocating Crackdown
United States and South Korea Conclude Major Trade Accord Worth $350 Billion
Hurricane Melissa Strikes Cuba After Devastating Jamaica With Record Winds
Vice President Vance to Headline Turning Point USA Campus Event at Ole Miss
U.S. Targets Maritime Narco-Routes While Border Pressure to Mexico Remains Limited
Bill Gates at 70: “I Have a Real Fear of Artificial Intelligence – and Also Regret”
Elon Musk Unveils Grokipedia: An AI-Driven Alternative to Wikipedia
Saudi Arabia Unveils Vision for First-Ever "Sky Stadium" Suspended Over Desert Floor
Amazon Announces 14 000 Corporate Job Cuts as AI Investment Accelerates
UK Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since March, Food Leads the Decline
London Stock Exchange Group ADR (LNSTY) Earns Zacks Rank #1 Upgrade on Rising Earnings Outlook
Soap legend Tony Adams, long-time star of Crossroads, dies at 84
Rachel Reeves Signals Tax Increases Ahead of November Budget Amid £20-50 Billion Fiscal Gap
NatWest Past Gains of 314% Spotlight Opportunity — But Some Key Risks Remain
UK Launches ‘Golden Age’ of Nuclear with £38 Billion Sizewell C Approval
UK Announces £1.08 Billion Budget for Offshore Wind Auction to Boost 2030 Capacity
UK Seeks Steel Alliance with EU and US to Counter China’s Over-Capacity
UK Struggles to Balance China as Both Strategic Threat and Valued Trading Partner
Argentina’s Markets Surge as Milei’s Party Secures Major Win
British Journalist Sami Hamdi Detained by U.S. Authorities After Visa Revocation Amid Israel-Gaza Commentary
King Charles Unveils UK’s First LGBT+ Armed Forces Memorial at National Memorial Arboretum
At ninety-two and re-elected: Paul Biya secures eighth term in Cameroon amid unrest
Racist Incidents Against UK Nurses Surge by 55%
UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves Cites Shared Concerns With Trump Administration as Foundation for Early US-UK Trade Deal
Essentra plc: A Closer Look at a UK ‘Penny Stock’ Opportunity Amid Market Weakness
U.S. and China Near Deal to Avert Rare-Earth Export Controls Ahead of Trump-Xi Summit
Justin time: Justin Herbert Shields Madison Beer with Impressive Reflex at Lakers Game
Russia’s President Putin Declares Burevestnik Nuclear Cruise Missile Ready for Deployment
Giuffre’s Memoir Alleges Maxwell Claimed Sexual Act with Clooney
House Republicans Move to Strip NYC Mayoral Front-Runner Zohran Mamdani of U.S. Citizenship
Record-High Spoiled Ballots Signal Voter Discontent in Ireland’s 2025 Presidential Election
Philippines’ Taal Volcano Erupts Overnight with 2.4 km Ash Plume
Albania’s Virtual AI 'Minister' Diella Set to 'Birth' Eighty-Three Digital Assistants for MPs
Tesla Unveils Vision for Optimus V3 as ‘Biggest Product of All Time’, Including Surgical Capabilities
Francis Ford Coppola Auctions Luxury Watches After Self-Financed Film Flop
Convicted Sex Offender Mistakenly Freed by UK Prison Service Arrested in London
United States and China Begin Constructive Trade Negotiations Ahead of Trump–Xi Summit
U.S. Treasury Sanctions Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro over Drug-Trafficking Allegations
Miss USA Crowns Nebraska’s Audrey Eckert Amid Leadership Overhaul
‘I Am Not Done’: Kamala Harris Signals Possible 2028 White House Run
NBA Faces Integrity Crisis After Mass Arrests in Gambling Scandal
Swift Heist at the Louvre Sees Eight French Crown Jewels Stolen in Under Seven Minutes
U.S. Halts Trade Talks with Canada After Ontario Ad Using Reagan Voice Triggers Diplomatic Fallout
Microsoft AI CEO: ‘We’re making an AI that you can trust your kids to use’ — but can Microsoft rebuild its own trust before fixing the industry’s?
×