WASHINGTON - Over two million children in the United States have been diagnosed with COVID-19 since the onset of the pandemic, according to the latest data of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Children's Hospital Association.

Nearly 179,000 new child COVID-19 cases were reported last week ending Dec 24, according to the AAP.

Since Nov 12, there has been an increase of one million child COVID-19 cases. Over the two weeks from Dec 10 to 24, there was a 22 percent increase in child COVID-19 cases in the country, according to the AAP.

Children accounted for 12.4 percent of all confirmed coronavirus cases in the United States. The overall rate was 2,658 cases per 100,000 children in the population, according to the report.

"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 said in the report.