Chicago, Nov 18 (IANS): Pending Thanksgiving holiday, the average number of Covid-19 cases among the youth aged 0-17 years in the US midwest state of Illinois has risen from 628 to 1,020 a day in the past two weeks, which equates to a 62 per cent increase, state media reported.

To be specific, the Covid-19 cases among those aged 0-4 years rose 57 per cent; among those aged 5-11 years jumped 59 per cent; and among those aged 12-17 years soared 71 per cent.

The recent spike in cases is approaching the peak level of the fall 2021 surge for youth cases recorded on September 4, which was an average of 1,228 a day; but is notably lower than the pandemic's highest average daily tally of new youth cases, which was 1,532 recorded on November 16, 2020.

The Illinois Department of Public Health last week reported 148 youth outbreaks statewide, 124 of which were at public and private schools enrolling students in kindergarten through 12th grade, Xinhua news agency reported.

Elementary school-based vaccine clinics were launched in Chicago and the suburbs last week following the US Food and Drug Administration authorization of the Pfizer vaccine for children aged 5 to 11 years. As many as 6,687 Chicago Public School (CPS) students were inoculated on Friday, of which 5,849 were children aged 5 to 11-years-old. From Thursday through Saturday, nearly 13,000 CPS students got vaccinated, with 11,434 students being 5 to 11-years-old.

CPS reported 2,400 student and 679 adult cases this school year through Monday.

For the week ending November 11, there was a 22 per cent increase in children's Covid-19 cases nationwide compared with two weeks ago, according to a report from the American Academy of Pediatrics and Children's Hospital Association.

More than 6.6 million children in the US have tested positive for Covid-19 since the onset of the pandemic, according to the Children and Covid-19 State Data Report.