About 20 cases of children with post-COVID syndrome have been registered in Croatia, the deputy director of Zagreb's Infectious Diseases Hospital, Zoran Barusic, said on Sunday.

Since the start of the epidemic, over 21,600 children under 19 have been infected with coronavirus and more and more have post-COVID syndrome, he told the Croatian public broadcaster after the death of a 10-year-old boy, the youngest COVID fatality in Croatia.

The boy died at the Infectious Diseases Hospital early on Sunday of multisystem inflammatory syndrome as a result of coronavirus infection.

Multisystem inflammatory syndrome, caused by the SARS-CoV- 2 virus, occurs in children within several days or several weeks of recovery from COVID-19. The syndrome can be mild but also extremely serious, Barusic said, adding that 16 children have been treated for it to date and that four are currently being treated at Zagreb’s Infectious Diseases Hospital.

Eight children with multisystem inflammatory syndrome have been treated at Split University Hospital, six with a mild and two with a medium grave clinical picture, said dr. Branka Pulic, adding that all had recovered from COVID and had mild symptoms.

Two children with this rare syndrome have been hospitalised at Rijeka University Hospital.

Research shows that 70% of children with this syndrome require intensive care, 10% who recover have heart damage, and mortality is 1.5%.