The Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) admission rate of underage Covid-19 patients between Category 3 to 5 have shot up drastically in March, according to the Health Ministry.
“The admission rate of children into the PICU due to Covid-19 had increased 94 percent for all categories between 3 to 5, with a significant jump of 200 percent for Category 4 patients, followed by 125 percent for Category 5 patients,” read a Facebook posting by the Health Ministry today.
The posting also had an attached infographic, showing the different increases in PICU admission rate broken down into Category 2, 3, 4 and 5 as well as the total increase in percentage, between Jan to Feb 2022, and Jan to March 2022.
According to the infographic, there was no increase in PICU admission for Category 2 Covid-19 patients, while there was a 50 percent increase for Category 3 patients.
Category 2 refer to patients with light symptoms without pneumonia, whereas Category 3 are patients with moderate symptoms and pneumonia. Category 4 are patients who require oxygen while Category 5 are critical patients that require intensive treatment.
The Health Ministry said children aged 11 and below are currently at a higher risk of getting infected with Covid-19 as many of them have yet to be fully vaccinated, compared to the older population.
“Taking the Covid-19 vaccine is very important for children aged five to 11, especially when the country is about to start its shift to the endemic phase.
“As such, the Health Ministry would once again like to advise parents to take the vaccine for their children in order to protect them from a severe Omicron variant infection which could lead to death due to Covid-19,” the ministry said.
The National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme for Children (PICKids) started on Feb 3, 2022. - Mkini
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