The fullness of the COVID ward in Makareio is 100%, where five children are hospitalized and a sixth is expected, said to KYPE, the Director of the Pediatric Department Dr. Abraham Elias, who noted that other admissions are expected in the coming days due to its large spread virus in the community.
"We have five children and we are expecting a sixth. They are two one and ten month old boys, an 8 year old boy and two 11 and 12 year old girls. "Their clinical condition is good," said Dr. Elias.
As he noted, one of the children is receiving oxygen. "We are using oxygen for the first time in the last month. "So far only three children, who were teenagers, had to take oxygen because two of them had underlying diseases," he said.
He stressed that in children the symptoms of coronavirus are mild. "What is being observed is that the infection has spread to younger ages and this was to be expected due to adult vaccination. Babies usually get it from close family members, especially parents or siblings. Older children are infected by gatherings. "There is a chance that one in 160 children will develop the multi-inflammatory syndrome mis-c, which we expect to happen in the coming weeks."
In the meantime, as Dr. Elias said, during this period, the hospitalizations of children with febrile diseases have increased. "We have high occupancy rates that are unusual for such a season. For summer season we have high occupancy and in fact we have with respiratory infections mainly, we have children with febrile infections. "Makareio's completeness in pediatrics is around 80%", he noted.
Regarding the vaccination of children for COVID, Dr. Elias said that his personal opinion is that children over 12 years of age should also be vaccinated to stop the spread.
"For the children, we have not yet decided as Cyprus. Some countries have already started vaccinating children, such as the USA, Belgium, France, Italy. England is awaiting a decision at this time. "It's something we have to study," he added.
Source: KYPE