By Sue-Ann Wayow
CHILDREN with no pre-existing illnesses are contracting Covid-19 and experiencing severe effects of the virus says Chief Medical Officer Dr Roshan Parasram.
Dr Parasram said while the majority of children getting the virus and ending up in hospital had a comorbidity, both parents and children needed to take extra care not to contract Covid-19.
Speaking at the Ministry of Health’s virtual Covid-19 update on Wednesday, Dr Parasram said there were five children hospitalised with three at ward level, one at the High Dependency Unit (HDU) and one in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
He said, “I don’t want to put a percentage but the majority of them have been having other underlying comorbidities, the ones that have been admitted to hospital especially the ones in ICU, for example. But there have been cases without any known comorbidities as well admitted to our paediatric hospitals.”
Using the United States and the United Kingdom as examples, Dr Parasram said with the last viral surge and the presence of the Omicron variant, the paediatric hospitals were filled.
He again appealed to all those who were eligible to get a Covid-19 vaccine to accept one and to continue safeguarding themselves as much as possible against the virus.
