UK Edition
Young people are starting to believe they are "invincible" in the face of coronavirus and are no longer following the rules, a leading World Health Organisation (WHO) official has suggested.
Dr Hans Kluge, the organisation's regional Director for Europe, said on Thursday he was "very concerned" that under-24s are regularly appearing among new cases.
His comments came as infection rates continued to rise sharply across much of the continent, and followed widespread reports of partying youngsters ignoring social distancing after months of lockdown.
France, Germany and Italy all saw their biggest daily rise in cases since the spring this week, while Spain is in the grip of a major outbreak with 3,715 new cases on Wednesday alone.
"Young people are at the forefront of the Covid-19 response and they have a very powerful message to convey through their behaviour and their communication," said Dr Kluge.
"Low risk does not mean no risk – no one is invincible, and if you do not die from Covid it may stick to your body like a tornado with a long tail. While young people are less likely to die than older people (see graphic below), they can still be very seriously affected. This virus affects organs throughout the body."
The proportion of those aged from 15 to 24 who are infected in Europe has risen three-fold in the last five months from around 4.5 per cent to 15 per cent, WHO data shows.
Dr Kluge's remarks came as a new study suggested children may carry significantly more coronavirus in their system than previously thought.
In a study in Massachusetts hospitals, infected children were shown to have a higher level of virus in their airways than hospitalised adults in ICUs for Covid-19 treatment, researchers said.
They examined 192 paediatric patients aged from 0 to 22 years, and 49 children tested positive for coronavirus while an additional 18 had late-onset, Covid-19-related illness.
Lael Yonker, the director of the MGH Cystic Fibrosis Centre, and lead author of the study, said: "I was surprised by the high levels of virus we found in children of all ages, especially in the first two days of infection."