EIGHT-WEEK-OLD BABY DIES WITH COVID-19
AN EIGHT-WEEK-OLD baby has died with coronavirus in regional NSW in what is believed to be Australia’s youngest Covid-related fatality.
The infant died in a hospital in the Hunter Region in December, authorities confirmed on Friday.
NSW Health chief health officer Kerry Chant said the death had been referred to the coroner for investigation.
“The coroner and forensic pathologists are working very hard to get the answers that most importantly, the family wants and the clinicians want in terms of this child and the contribution that Covid may or may not have made to its death,” Dr Chant told reporters.
She said there was strong public interest in the baby’s death and NSW Health was committed to making the outcome of the coronial investigation known.
“But our priority will be that the coroner will inform the family, the family will have the time to talk to the clinicians about the implications of the findings, and then we will release it publicly given the significant interest in this case,” she said.
Dr Chant expressed her condolences to the baby’s family members for their loss and asked the media to respect their privacy.
“I have spoken with the family and the family are very keen for their privacy to be protected,” she said.
“As you can imagine, this is one of the most difficult times a family could ever go through.”
The baby’s death was confirmed as NSW reported a record 46 Covid-related fatalities on Friday – the deadliest day of the pandemic so far.
The state confirmed 25,168 new Covid-19 cases had been recorded – 10,015 from positive rapid tests reported to the government and 15,153 detected on PCR testing.
There were 2743 people in the state’s hospitals with coronavirus, 209 of those in intensive care. The figures were down from 2781 and 212, respectively, on Thursday.
University of South Australia biostatistics and epidemiology chairman, Professor Adrian Esterman said on Thursday that there was a “good chance” the outbreak would continue trending downwards.
“What we’re seeing, not just in NSW but other states as well, is there was a very sharp rise in cases before the peak was reached, but it’s coming down very slowly and very bumpily. We’ll keep seeing that,” he said.
Dr Chant also said it appeared the spread of Omicron was beginning to slow down.