Covid-positive girl, 3, fights for life

A three-year-old girl who tested preliminary positive for Covid was fighting for her life in an intensive care unit last night.

That came as authorities revealed that dozens of daily infections in the fifth wave of the coronavirus to hit Hong Kong are kids aged four and below.

And infections in youngsters can likely trigger complications more easily than in adults, so authorities are lowering the age requirement for Sinovac vaccine to three from tomorrow to help protect them.

On Friday, a four-year-old boy died after vomiting at home. He subsequently tested positive for Covid and became the SAR's youngest fatality among 219.

But with hospitals "nearly saturated" the Hospital Authority is facing immense pressure to admit patients quickly. So some public hospitals may become designated Covid facilities.

The SAR yesterday recorded 1,347 cases, with 2,000 more preliminary positive cases pending confirmation. The Centre for Health Protection's count means the SAR's daily caseload over the past week has doubled every two or three days.

The center's head of communicable diseases, Chuang Shuk-kwan, said 4 percent of patients are now four years old or younger.

"It is very different from the previous four waves, when only a small number of children were infected," she said, adding that pediatricians believe Covid may trigger complications in young children more easily than adults.

As of yesterday four patients were in critical condition, including the three-year-old girl.

She had been in generally good health but developed symptoms and was taken to Prince of Wales Hospital and Union Hospital on Saturday. She was subsequently admitted to Prince of Wales, but her condition soon took a turn for the worse.

She has now been transferred to the ICU at Hong Kong Children's Hospital. Despite her critical condition she was not using an artificial lung machine.

In announcing a lowering of the age requirement for vaccination to three tomorrow, the Food and Health Bureau announced that parents can book the jab for their children from 8am.

Children aged five and above can also get BioNTech/Fosun vaccines from Wednesday, but the German-made jabs are not available for younger kids as there is not sufficient scientific data for the age group.

Pediatric expert Lau Yu-lung, who advises authorities on vaccinations, said: "Basically, kids from below one to three or four have not contracted any virus, not even for the four common human coronaviruses, which can also stimulate T-cell [immunity] reactions to protect them against Covid."

He also suggested authorities can arrange outreach teams to administer shots to kids at schools.

Meanwhile, Larry Lee Lap-yip, the Hospital Authority's chief manager for integrated clinical services, announced a new triage policy for Covid patients to prioritize hospitalization for elderly people, children and those with serious conditions.

He said more stable patients are being moved from hospitals and the North Lantau Hospital Hong Kong Infection Control Centre to isolation centers at AsiaWorld-Expo and at Penny's Bay.

The Expo facility will take infected families, which typically include children.

To have more resources to combat the fifth wave, a majority of non-urgent services including consultations and medical procedures have been cut.

Lee said thousands of Covid patients are waiting at home to go into hospitals, and he expected each would need to wait for several days.

"We call for young and stable patients with mild symptoms to stay calm and wait at home," he said. "If you call for an ambulance it will only add to our workload and obstruct patients in need from being admitted to hospitals."

Ambulance services are also overstretched so authorities are using tour buses to take stable patients to isolation facilities.

Outbreaks have also seeped into the political circle, with a second member from the pro-establishment Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong testing preliminary positive.

Former Yau Tsim Mong district councillor Edmond Chung Kong-mo is believed to have contracted the virus while on community duties.

His infection came after the party's accounting sector lawmaker, Edmund Wong Chun-sek, tested preliminary positive on Saturday. Wong's legislative office has been disinfected, while people who have been in contact with him lately must get tested.

DAB chairwoman Starry Lee Wai-king said she has tested negative.

The Chinese University of Hong Kong also announced at least eight students tested preliminary positive or were confirmed with Covid.

And at least 11 care homes in Yuen Long, Tuen Mun, San Po Kong and Fan Ling have seen residents or staffers infected. Authorities are looking at evacuations or on-site quarantine. Lee Shing House at the Lee On Estate in Sha Tin was under an overnight lockdown from 7.30pm yesterday to test all residents after sewage samples tested positive.

Fourteen preliminary positive cases and one "uncertain" were detected in overnight lockdowns at Mau Chuen House on the Shui Chuen O Estate in Sha Tin and at Ching Cheung House on the Cheung Lung Wai Estate in Sheung Shui from Saturday night.