Washington, Nov 4 (IANS): Over 850,000 children in the US have tested positive for the novel coronavirus since the onset of the pandemic in the now worst-hit country, according to a new report of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children's Hospital Association.

A total of 61,447 new child cases were reported last week from October 22 to 29, which is the highest since the pandemic began, Xinhua news agency quoted the report as saying on Tuesday.

In October, nearly 200,000 new child Covid-19 cases were reported in the country.

Altogether 853,635 child cases have been reported in the US so far, and children represented 11.1 per cent of all those infected, said the report.

The overall rate was 1,134 cases per 100,000 children in the population, according to the report.

Children accounted for 1 per cent to 3.5 per cent of total reported hospitalizations, and 0 to 0.2 per cent of all Covid-19 deaths, said 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 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," it added.

As of Wednesday morning, the US is the worst-hit country with the world's highest number of cases and deaths at 9,376,293 and 232,529, respectively, according to the Johns Hopkins University.