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A boy receives a free Covid-19 test at a St. John’s Well Child & Family Center mobile clinic set up outside Walker Temple AME Church in South Los Angeles amid the coronavirus pandemic on July 15, in Los Angeles. Mario Tama/Getty Images

There were 178,935 new cases of Covid-19 reported among children in the week ending Dec. 24, the American Academy of Pediatrics said Tuesday. 

According to the AAP, this number of cases brings the cumulative total to 2,000,681 positive Covid-19 cases among children since the start of the pandemic. As of Dec. 24, children represented 12.4% of all cases of Covid-19 in the US.

The AAP also noted, that since Nov. 12, there has been an increase of 1 million Covid-19 cases in children, and over the last two weeks, from Dec. 10 – Dec. 24, there was a 22% increase in child cases. 

This puts the overall rate at “2,658 cases per 100,000 children in the population,” the AAP said.

“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 of the pandemic 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,” the AAP’s data report said.