By The SUN
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| The baby is fighting for her life at Eastern Hospital (File) |
A 22-month-old girl who suffered brain inflammation after getting infected with Covid-19 is still
fighting for her life at
Hospital Authority’s Dr Gladys Wong said at today’s press briefing that the patient is on ventilator and cardiac agents and is being closely watched by doctors.
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| PINDUTIN PARA SA DETALYE |
The baby was flown by helicopter from North Lamma General Outpatient Clinic after she showed signs of convulsions, along with fever. She appears to have caught the virus from her three-year-old sister who tested positive on a rapid antigen test earlier.
Doctors are said to be monitoring her condition while waiting for some test results, including a genome sequencing to determine which Omicron sub-variant, if any, she is carrying.
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| Pindutin para sa detalye |
Meanwhile, Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan of the Centre for Health Protection said they are greatly concerned about the rising trend in deaths among Covid patients, particularly the elderly.
Five new deaths were reported involving four males and one female aged between 55 and 88 years old. They took the death toll from the fifth wave to 9,285.
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| PRESS FOR DETAILS |
Two of the patients were declared dead on arrival at the hospital, including the youngest patient who appears to have fallen from a height. Their cases have been referred to the Coroner for further investigation.
Chuang repeated an appeal for the elderly to get fully vaccinated, noting studies that showed elderly people who did not complete their vaccination are seven times more likely to get seriously ill from the virus than those who got jabbed.
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For those over 80 years old, she said the probability of serious complications rises to 15 times for those who did not get vaccinated or did not complete the required jabs.
“People should receive at least three doses, but for those over 60, they should have four jabs,” she said.
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| Press for details |
She also reported a total of 4,884 new infections, which is nearly as many as yesterday’s four-month high.
The cases include 188 that were imported – 79 were detected at the airport, 90 during hotel quarantine and 19 after the patients had ended their seven-day isolation.
Kwan reported an outbreak at the medical ward of
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| PRESS FOR MORE DETAILS |
Two other patients and four staff members in the same ward were subsequently found infected.
No new patients or visitors are being allowed into the ward for the meantime.
Kwan also said more patients will be prescribed two Covid-19 anti viral drugs, Molnupiravir and Paxlovid, as the eligibility criteria are relaxed.
She said those with chronic illnesses will be entitled to the drugs regardless
of their age and vaccination status, but they must take the pills within five
days of the onset of symptoms.
"We know that the earlier the better to have these antivirals because it
helps to lower the viral load and it helps to shorten the time for getting the
test result to negative,” said Kwan.
She said authorities realized they have more than enough stock of the antivirals so they decided to relax the rules for handing them out.
Public hospitals are now treating a total of 1,411 Covid patients, of which 21 are in critical condition and 18 are seriously ill.
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