A rare inflammatory disease in children that may be linked to the novel coronavirus is presenting a "confused picture" and doctors and world leaders need to be alert about it, the World Health Organization said on May 15.

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WHO's technical lead on coronavirus Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, however, said that it is not yet been established whether the newly recognised condition called multi-system inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) is associated with COVID-19 or not.

"This multi-system inflammatory syndrome was alerted to us by our colleagues in the United Kingdom. It is a very rare condition which is causing an inflammatory condition in young children," Van Kerkhove told reporters at the daily coronavirus briefing. "So right now it's a bit of a confused picture, although more information is coming," she added.
She further said, "We need to understand if the syndrome is associated with COVID-19 or not. As I mentioned before, some of the children have not tested positive for COVID-19, while others have," she added.

Earlier, researchers in the United States had said they have seen the development of rare inflammatory problems like stomach pain, bubbles and swelling in the arteries of children who have been exposed to the novel coronavirus infection.

Paediatric specialists, including representatives from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health, opined that the cases appeared to have some characteristics of an illness known as Kawasaki disease, The Washington Post reported. As of 1 am May 16, the number of people infected globally stands at 4,500,476 with at least 304,835 deaths reported, according to the Johns Hopkins University.