Washington, Jan 7 (IANS): Nearly 2.13 million children in the US have been diagnosed with the novel coronavirus since the onset of the pandemic early last year, according to the latest data.

Data by American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Children's Hospital Association issued on Wednesday revealed that about 128,000 new child Covid-19 cases were reported in the week ending December 31, 2020, reports Xinhua news agency.

Over the two weeks from December 17 to 31, there were 306,841 new child Covid-19 cases reported across the country, a 17 per cent increase, according to the AAP.

Children accounted for 12.4 per cent of all confirmed coronavirus cases in the US.

The overall rate was 2,828 cases per 100,000 children in the population, according to the AAP data.

"At this time, it appears that severe illness due to Covid-19 is rare among children. However, there is an urgent need to collect more data on longer-term impacts of the pandemic on children, including ways the virus may harm the long-term physical health of infected children, as well as its emotional and mental health effects," the AAP said in the report.

As of Thursday morning, the US has registered a total of 21,292,109 coronavirus cases and 360,999 deaths.

The two tallies account for the highest in the world.