A one-year-old girl infected with Covid-19 is in critical condition, Hong Kong’s health authorities have said, amid an increase in infections that began in mid-March.
The infant had a fever and runny nose since Tuesday, and was brought to the accident and emergency room at Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital after experiencing convulsions, according to a statement issued on Wednesday by the Centre for Health Protection (CHP).
She was diagnosed with Covid-19 complicated with encephalitis, or inflammation of the brain tissue. She is in critical condition and remains hospitalised in the paediatric intensive care unit.
A preliminary investigation found that she had not been vaccinated for Covid-19 and had no travel history during the incubation period. Three people in her household experienced symptoms, of which two tested positive for Covid but had recovered.
The CHP logged two separate cases of severe paediatric Covid-19 infections earlier this month, including a 17-month-old girl diagnosed with Covid-19, adenovirus and rhinovirus, complicated with croup, a respiratory infection. A 13-year-old girl was also diagnosed with Covid-19 complicated with pneumonia.
The CHP said on Wednesday that Covid-19 has become an endemic disease with cyclical patterns. Overall Covid activity has continued to rise since mid-March, though the rate of increase in sewage and respiratory samples had slowed down in the week ending May 17 compared to the previous week.
‘Relatively high level’
According to a CHP report, the centre logged 977 positive nucleic acid test detections for Covid-19 between May 11 and 17, compared with the 1,042 in the previous week. Also in that week, 1,214 respiratory specimens tested positive for Covid-19, compared to the previous week’s 1,205.
“Although the rate of increase in the COVID-19 activity level in Hong Kong has begun to slow down, the CHP expected the COVID-19 activity level to remain at a relatively high level in a short period of time,” the centre said in a Wednesday statement.
It also reminded high-risk individuals, such as those who have underlying medical conditions or are immunocompromised, to get jabbed for Covid or receive booster shots. They should also take additional measures to protect themselves such as masking when in public.
Covid vaccines in Hong Kong are still effective in preventing the dominant XDV strain, the centre said.
The CHP’s announcement came after the head of the paediatric infectious diseases unit at Princess Margaret Hospital, Mike Kwan, made similar calls earlier this month as he said the hospital’s paediatric ward was “full” of young unvaccinated Covid cases.
