Spike in Covid infections in children younger than 5
There is a spike in Covid-19 infections in children under the age of five years old, says the Department of Health.
This age group is now has the second highest number of new infections, behind the 60 year and older cohort.
On Friday, the Health Department held a press briefing on the country's Covid-19 status amid surging Covid-19 numbers and the new omicron variant.
Public Health specialist Dr Waasila Jassat says this trend is different to the other previous three waves.
"We've always seen children not being heavily affected by the Covid-19 pandemic in the past, not having many admissions. In the third wave we saw more admissions under five and in teenagers 15-19 years and now at the start of the fourth wave we are seeing a sharp increase across all age groups, particularly in the under fives.
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"The incidents in those under five is now second highest and second to those over 60. The trend that we are seeing now that is different to what wesaw before is the particular increase in hospital admissions in children under five years."
The National Institute for Communicable Diseases’ Michelle Groome says the department has also begun the process of preparing for the looming surge.
"We need to highlight surge preparedness to also include pediatric beds and staff."
During the peak of the third wave, the department had prepared over 9000 beds for Covid-19.
