Washington, Sep 2 (IANS): Nearly 480,000 children in the US have been infected with the novel coronavirus since the pandemic hit the country earlier this year, a new report has revealed.

The report by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children's Hospital Association released on Monday said that while children represented only 9.5 per cent of the overall caseload, a total of 476,439 kids have tested positive so far, reports Xinhua news agency.

The overall rate is 631 cases per 100,000 children.

According to the report, 70,330 new child cases were reported from August 13 to 27, a 17 per cent increase in over two weeks.

Children were 0.6 to 4.1 per cent of total reported hospitalizations, and 0 to 0.3 per cent of deaths, said the report.

"At this time, it appears that severe illness due to Covid-19 is rare among children. However, states should continue to provide detailed reports on cases, testing, hospitalizations, and mortality by age so that the effects of the virus on children's health can be documented and monitored," it added.

As of Wednesday morning, the overall number of coronavirus cases in the US increased to 6,073,174, with 184,644 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

Both tallies currently account for the highest in the world.