Los Angeles, Sep 9 (IANS): Over 14.5 million children in the US 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.

Over 343,000 of these cases have been added in the past four weeks. Approximately 6.65 million reported cases have been added in 2022, according to the report.

For the week ending September 1, about 90,600 child Covid-19 cases were reported, an increase of 14 per cent from two weeks prior.

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.