Los Angeles, Feb 22 (IANS): Nearly 130,000 child Covid-19 cases were reported in the US in the past four weeks, according to the latest report by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Children's Hospital Association.

As of February 16, more than 15.4 million children in the US were reported to have tested positive for Covid-19 since the onset of the pandemic, according to the report as quoted by Xinhua news agency report.

Nearly 29,000 child Covid-19 cases were reported in the week ending February 16. Over the past five months, weekly reported child cases have plateaued at an average of about 33,000 cases, according to the report.

There is a 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 report.

It is important to recognise 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.