Washington, Mar 22 (IANS): Nearly 270,000 child Covid-19 cases have been reported in the US in the past one month, according to the report pby the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Children's Hospital Association.

About 12.8 million children have tested positive for Covid-19 since the onset of the pandemic in the country more than two years ago, reports Xinhua news agency.

Children represented 19 per cent of all confirmed cases, according to the report.

A total of 31,991 child Covid-19 cases were reported the past week ending March 17.

Nearly 270,000 child cases have been added in the past four weeks.

Since the first week of September 2021, there have been over 7.7 million additional child cases, according to the report.

There is an urgent need to collect more age-specific data to assess the severity of illness related to new variants as well as potential longer-term effects, said the AAP.

"It is important to recognize there are immediate effects of the pandemic on children's health, but importantly we need to identify and address the long-lasting impacts on the physical, mental, and social well-being of this generation of children and youth," said the AAP.