An otherwise healthy toddler was one of four people in New South Wales to die with Covid over the past 24 hours, with the state recording a further 14,970 cases.
NSW Health reported the two-year-old’s death on Monday, describing it as tragic.
“A previously well two-year-old child from Sydney died at the Children’s hospital at Westmead due to Covid-19 infection,” NSW Health said in a statement.
“NSW Health asks for the privacy of this child’s family to be respected during this most difficult time.”
Children under five are not eligible for any Covid vaccines in Australia.
Three adults also died from the virus – taking the state’s Covid death toll to 2,027.
Each of the adults, aged in their 70s, 80s and 90s, had received two doses of the vaccine.
Hospitalisations of people with Covid have increased over the past fortnight, jumping from 1,066 to 1,163.
Prof Adrian Esterman, a former World Health Organization epidemiologist from the University of South Australia, described the child’s death as “extremely unusual”.
“Kids and even young kids do die from Covid, but they usually have an underlying health condition,” Esterman said.
“That is very, very unusual but it does happen.
“We get some highly fit and athletic 20-year-olds dying, but again, it’s unusual.”
Esterman predicted the state’s cases would continue to grow and expects about 30,000 daily cases within a fortnight if public health settings remained the same. He said did not expect hospitalisations to rise at the same rate.
“We’re getting a younger and younger age group being infected and they don’t get quite as sick,” he said.
“We’re starting to see hospitalisations going up definitely but not at the same rate as cases.”
Children and teenagers have recorded the most Covid infections over the past month, with schools and extracurricular activities returning.
Just under half of children across the state aged between five and 11 have received one vaccine dose, according to NSW Health.
According to federal government data updated before the most recent death in New South Wales, three girls and one boy aged nine or younger have so far died during the pandemic.
Although rare, the deaths of children can be expected as cases increase, according to Sydney Children’s Hospital research scientists and UNSW senior lecturer Dr Nusrat Homaira.
“Any death in a child is an unfortunate event then we never want but as we see more and more cases, these exceptionally rare events will be reported,” Homaira said.
She said the key for parents was getting any eligible kids vaccinated as soon as possible, as well as getting boosters for adults.
“What we should really be advocating is: vaccination, vaccination and vaccination,” she said.
“Getting the family members vaccinated [is important] because under five, we don’t have a vaccine against Covid for children.”
While Covid deaths in children was uncommon, it was still possible and parents need to be vigilant with kids deteriorating more quickly than adults.
“Unlike adults, they can get really unwell over 24 hours,” Homaira said.
“It’s very important that we be very vigilant about those symptoms that can trigger sort of severe disease like [difficulty] breathing, difficulty to feed, being very lethargic, being semi-conscious, being extremely tired, not wanting to play.
“Fever is always an alarming sign in children so if if a child with a Covid develops fever or has breathing difficulty, this should ring a bell.”
