A three-year-old girl who was infected with COVID-19 has died, becoming Hong Kong’s youngest fatality related to the virus.
In a press release issued late on Tuesday, the Hospital Authority said she was transferred to the Hong Kong Children’s Hospital paediatric intensive care unit in critical condition on Sunday.
It added that her condition continued to deteriorate and she eventually passed away at 8:37pm.
Her passing is the second child death linked to the coronavirus in less than a week.
A four-year-old boy died last Friday. He later tested preliminary positive for COVID-19.
Mike Kwan, a consultant at Princess Margaret Hospital’s pediatric infectious diseases unit, said on a radio program on Wednesday it was possible that children in Hong Kong did not have opportunities to be exposed to the coronavirus, resulting in them not having “even a bit of immunity”.
So they became susceptible when the highly transmissible Omicron variant spread in Hong Kong, he added.
Kwan urged parents to get COVID-19 jabs for children over three and themselves, especially with the minimum age for the Sinovac vaccine lowered to three from Tuesday.
He also said parents should quickly call an ambulance if their children display certain symptoms.
“If [your child] is having breathing difficulties, lips that are turning purple, chest pains, a sudden increase in heart rate, or is losing consciousness, having a persistent high fever, or cramps, immediately dial 999 for an ambulance to send him to hospital,” said Kwan.
The city also recorded another death on Tuesday — a 100-year-old woman with chronic illness.
She tested preliminarily positive for COVID-19 and was admitted to Tseung Kwan O Hospital for isolation treatment on Monday.
Her condition suddenly deteriorated on Tuesday and eventually succumbed at 8.01pm.
“The hospitals are saddened about the passing away of the patients and would offer the necessary assistance to their families,” the statement read.
Including these two deaths on Tuesday, 217 patients confirmed or preliminary confirmed for COVID-19 infection have passed away in public hospitals.
