A leading paediatrician is warning parents to be aware, after a 14-year-died of a rare condition linked to coronavirus.
The boy, with no underlying health conditions, died at Evelina London Children's Hospital from a form of the inflammatory Kawasaki disease.
Up to 100 children have been treated in hospital with symptoms including a rash and swollen glands, whereas others have become seriously ill and needed intensive care treatment.
Professor Russell Viner, president of the College of Paediatrics and Child Health told the BBC's Radio 4 Today programme: "Parents need to be aware, but I don't think they need to be too concerned.
"The truth about coronavirus, is it very little affects children. It's difficult to talk about deaths because any death of a child is too many."
He said we can "count the number of children who have died of coronavirus on the fingers of two hands, compared to over 30,000 in adults".
Professor Viner continued: "This is a new syndrome - it appears to be happening mostly after coronavirus infection. We believe it's where the body's immune system over-reacts to coronavirus.
"There's very few cases - there's 75 to 100 across the country. The important thing to say is most are being treated well. Many are going home, most haven't gone to intensive care units, some it's true get very, very sick.
"Parents need to be aware if your child is sick - bring them to hospital."
On symptoms, he said: "Generally, high fevers occasionally the child is collapsed, they can have rashes, be very pale and cold on the peripheries in like shock, abdominal symptoms. In some older teenagers, they are really washed out and tired."
He described coronavirus in children as "like an iceberg - we see a tiny tip."
He explained the syndrome is not "particularly prevalent." Cases appear to now be disappearing as we pass the peak of infections, but parents should remain alert for symptoms.
He said the UK is leading on it because of the joined-up NHS and academics speaking to each other.
Once it was picked up, they spoke to colleagues in Europe and the United States who had seen it as well.
There's a range of treatments, he added, including drugs to surpress the immune system.
An article in the The Lancet revealed the first eight cases of the disease at the children's hospital in London involved children aged four to 14, and seven needed to be placed on ventilators.
Two tested positive for coronavirus, including the 14-year-old who died, and four of the eight were from households with a family member suspected or confirmed to have had the virus.
One mum, Suzanne Mawdsley - from Radcliffe, Greater Manchester - shared pictures of two of her children's rashes after they developed a Kawasaki-type illness, but they thankfully recovered with treatment.
