Eleven-month-old baby girl died as Hong Kong reports 7,533 Covid cases

A 11-month-old baby girl has become the city’s youngest fatality as Hong Kong again reported a record high of 7,533 infections on Monday. 

The girl had general good health but her parents and siblings including a eight-year-old brother and a twin sister also tested positive in rapid tests. 

She suffered from fever and seizures last Saturday (February 19) and was brought to the accident and emergency department of Tseung Kwan O Hospital. 
She was intubated at the time, and transferred to the pediatric intensive care unit of Queen Elizabeth Hospital. 

Her condition took a turn for the worse and suffered a cardiac arrest around noon on Saturday. Although she was again resuscitated and prescribed with anti-viral medication Remdesivir, she succumbed at 6.59pm on Sunday, becoming the city’s youngest fatality after a three-year-old girl and a four-year-old boy passed away earlier this month.

Her case has been referred to the Coroner’s Court to investigate her cause of death. 

The baby girl was among 13 people who died in the past 24 hours, the oldest being a 97-year-old. That took the city’s death toll to 319. 

Hospital Authority said a new scheme to transition some non-Covid patients in recovery and rehab to private hospitals will launch in two to three days, to spare beds in public hospitals to treat Covid and other patients suffering from urgent conditions including stroke and heart attack.

The Centre for Health Protection said it will investigate if there are cluster outbreaks in work locations, but there will be delays to tracing. It has advised companies to sanitize offices or even suspend work following infections.