One child now in COVID-19 ICU; other children recovering
One child is currently in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at the National Infectious Diseases Hospital at Liliendaal, Georgetown, receiving treatment after being infected with COVID-19.
This was highlighted by the Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony on Tuesday, during his daily COVID-19 update.
On Friday, the minister said that there were four young children who were hospitalised after they began displaying the more severe symptoms associated with COVID-19. He did not state then how many were in the COVID-19 ICU and how many were in the wards.
Later that day, however, the News Room was able to confirm that a total of seven children were hospitalised at the Liliendaal facility and that three of those seven children were receiving treatment in the ICU. This ICU specifically treats those patients who are severely ill and who usually have difficulties breathing on their own.
In a statement released on Sunday, the Ministry of Health stated that these children who were hospitalised had comorbidities which, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), refers to the presence of one or more additional diseases or disorders in the same individual.
On Tuesday, however, Dr. Anthony related that of the 61 people who are hospitalised at the facility, three are children. Moreover, he said that 14 of those 61 are in the COVID-19 ICU and one of those 14 people in the ICU is a child. He did not give the age or sex of the child.
Meanwhile, the other two children, he said, are in the wards and that their prognosis “looks quite good.”
“We continue to monitor these children to see how they are progressing, to make sure they are getting all the meds required and that all the measures that should be taken are taken, and we are hoping that they would be able to get better and get out of the hospital shortly,” the Health Minister said.
Last week, also, the Health Minister related that since March last year, only more than 1,500 cases out of the more than 20,000 confirmed COVID-19 infections have been children aged zero to 14 years.
“While most of the cases (in children) so far have really been mild, over the last two weeks or so we have seen a disturbing trend and right now in our hospitals, we have four children who have been severely infected by COVID,” the Minister highlighted on Friday morning.