Detection of SARS-CoV-2 in young children attending day-care centres in Belgium, May 2020 to February 2022

Van Heirstraeten Liesbet, Ekinci Esra, Smet Mathias, Berkell Matilda, Willen Laura, Coppens Jasmine, Spiessens An, Xavier Basil Britto, Lammens Christine, Verhaegen Jan, Van Damme Pierre, Goossens Herman, Beutels Philippe, Matheeussen Veerle, Desmet Stefanie, Theeten Heidi, Malhotra-Kumar Surbhi.
Eurosurveillance. Volume 27, Issue 21. https://doi.org/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2022.27.21.2200380.

Abstract

Presence of SARS-CoV-2 was monitored in nasopharyngeal samples from young children aged 6−30 months attending day-care centres (DCCs) in Belgium from May 2020−February 2022. SARS-CoV-2 carriage among DCC children was only detected from November 2021, after emergence of Delta and Omicron variants, in 9 of the 42 DCCs screened. In only one DCC, two children tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 at the same sampling time point, suggesting limited transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in Belgian DCCs among young children during the studied period.

Read the full article in Eurosurveillance.

Detection of SARS-CoV-2 in young children attending day-care centres in Belgium, May 2020 to February 2022