LOS ANGELES, May 17 -- Almost 13.2 million children in the United States have tested positive for COVID-19 since the onset of the pandemic, according to the latest report by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Children's Hospital Association.

For the week ending May 12, more than 93,000 additional child COVID-19 cases were reported, an increase of about 76 percent from two weeks ago, according to the report published late Monday.

Over 246,000 child COVID-19 cases have been added in the past 4 weeks. Nearly 5.3 million child cases have been added in 2022, according to the report.

This marks the fifth consecutive weekly increase in reported child cases in the United States.

There is an urgent need to collect more age-specific data to assess the severity of illness related to new variants as well as potential longer-term effects, said the AAP.

"It is important to recognize there are immediate effects of the pandemic on children's health, but importantly we need to identify and address the long-lasting impacts on the physical, mental, and social well-being of this generation of children and youth," said the AAP.

  - Xinhua