Washington, Dec 30 (IANS): More than two million children in the US have been infected with the novel coronavirus since the onset of the pandemic in the world's hardest-hit country. according to authorities.

According to the latest data of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Children's Hospital Association published on Tuesday, nearly 179,000 new child Covid-19 cases were reported in the week ending December 24, reports Xinhua news agency.

Since November 12, there has been an increase of one million child Covid-19 cases.

Over the two weeks from December 10 to 24, there was a 22 per cent increase in such cases across the country, according to the AAP.

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

The overall rate was 2,658 cases per 100,000 children in the population, according to the report.

"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 report added.

As of Wednesday morning, the US, currently the hardest-hit country in the world by the pandemic, has registered a total of 19,299,960 confirmed coronavirus cases and 334,830 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

On Tuesday, the country reported 124,686 coronavirus patients in hospitals, the most reported on a given day during the pandemic, according to the Covid Tracking Project.

The country's proportion of ICU patients who have coronavirus also has shot up, from 16 per cent in September to 40 per cent last week, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.