Background: Nutritional screening, intervention and assessment in patients with undernutrition are key components of any nutritional care. The goal of any nutritional assessment is to determine the specific nutritional risk(s). Presently, there are no guidelines on any ideal screening tool to be used on admission for identification of children that are at risk of developing malnutrition during their hospital stay. The objective of the study was to develop a valid and simple nutritional screening tool which can be used on hospital admission to identify pediatric patients at risk of malnutrition. Methods: This study was cross sectional analytical that enrolled children (n:161) admitted with acute illness to the general wards at Cairo University Children Hospitals (CUCH). The answers to the developed questionnaire were compared to the Subjective Global Assessment (SGA), those with high accuracy (≥80%) were used for validity with anthropometric measures. Results: In the ‘less than two years of age’ group, the simple and valid nutritional screening tools were the following questions: (Is there a problem during breast-feeding?), (Is there scanty breast milk?), (Is there appetite loss?). The simple and valid nutritional screening tools during the ‘early childhood’ group were the following questions: (Is there appetite loss?), (Is there any skipping of meals?), (Are they watching TV, videotapes and/or playing computer games for more than two hours/day?). The simple and valid  nutritional screening tools during the ‘late childhood’ group were the following questions: (Is there appetite loss?), (Are they watching TV, videotapes and/or playing computer games for more than two hours/day?). Conclusion: The simple and valid nutritional screening tools differ according to age groups. The one which is valid in all ages is the question about the appetite loss.

WHO confirmed that COVID-19 disease is a pandemic event on March 11, 2020. The causative organism is a new virus called SARS-CoV-2. The review aims to explore the effect of nutrition-in particular the fat component -on the COVID-19 course in pediatrics. In this review, I will explain the relationship between the dietary fat component and its role as a macronutrient in the modulation of the disease severity or the prevention. The modification could be in the type or the amount of the dietary fat. To illustrate, it is advisable to avoid the saturated and trans-fatty acids due to their links to obesity with subsequent raised risks for COVID -19. In addition, the amount of dietary fat can be ameliorated to yield better disease outcomes. To illustrate, the ketogenic diet (high fat diet) provides the betahydroxybutrate which has favorable effects on the immunity suppressing and delaying the cytokine storms.