Puducherry, Jul 15 (IANS): Sixteen children, aged between 1 and 8 years, are under treatment in various hospitals Puducherry after testing Covid-19 positive, an official said on Thursday.

According to the Union Territory's Director, Health and Family Welfare, Dr S. Mohankumar, 12 of these children are aged between 1 and 5 years while the rest are above the age of 5.

Five newborns to Covid positive mothers have also been tested and one has been tested negative, while the results of the other four are being awaited.

Mohankumar, in a statement, also said that several children in Puducherry were affected by Covid-19 during the first and second wave of the pandemic.

The Jawaharlal Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER) have also reported cases of children suffering from Covid. It said that children, brought to the medical college for other ailments, had tested positive.

Chief Minister N. Rangasamy, who also holds the health portfolio, has directed the Health and Family Welfare Department to take steps to prevent children contracting the disease.