MOSCOW, October 8. /TASS/. The number of novel coronavirus cases among children is growing in Russia and this trend has been recorded in the past two weeks, Director of the National Medical Research Center of Children's Health Andrei Fisenko said on Thursday.

"Over the past two weeks there has been a trend when more cases of the novel coronavirus infection were recorded among children," Fisenko was quoted by the Health Ministry’s press service as saying.

"The number of complaints from the parents of little patients with symptoms similar to COVID-19 - loss of smell, rising temperature and cough - indeed grew over the past 10 days. This shows that the new infection is holding ground and there is the need to keep observing well-known precaution measures," the professor said.

According to the expert, mild COVID-19 cases are mostly recorded and often without any symptoms. "We saw serious forms of the disease among patients with chronic pathologies but in general now and then this infection affects children’s body not that much as adults," he noted.

Children should avoid visiting public places and crowded areas and must wear face masks and use sanitizers, Fisenko said. "Another important moment is to try to limit contacts between children and relatives above 60. This may be dangerous for the elderly," he noted.

To date, 1,260,112 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia, with 1,002,329 patients having recovered from the disease. Russia’s latest data indicates 22,056 fatalities nationwide. Earlier, the Russian government set up an Internet hotline to keep the public updated on the coronavirus situation.