1-Day-Old Infant Dies Of COVID-19

A newborn in the Philippines has died of COVID-19 complications as cases across the country remain high.

In the latest bulletin released by the Provincial Government of Tarlac, health officials said the one-day-old baby who died Sunday was from Concepcion town in the province of Tarlac, bringing the municipality’s death toll to 78 as of Wednesday.

Two other COVID-19 deaths were recorded in the province Sunday, including a 52-year-old man from Capas town where 79 people have now died of the virus and a 68-year-old man from Gerona town with a death toll of 64.

Tarlac health officials recorded 60 new cases across the whole province Sunday. The number of infections fell to 48 Wednesday. Tarlac has recorded a total of 23,068 cases since the beginning of the pandemic, of which 21,829 have recovered and 852 have died.

Nationwide, authorities reported 3,651 new cases and 69 additional deaths Wednesday. The country now has a total of 3,623,176 infections and 54,690 COVID-19 deaths. A case bulletin published by the Philippine Department of Health puts the country’s positivity rate at 16.5%.

Amid the continuous rise of COVID-19 cases, at least 60% of ICU beds, 36% of isolation beds and 32% of hospital beds are still available. However, 81% of ventilators across the Philippines are currently in use.

The COVID-19 case bulletins come after the Philippines began its campaign to vaccinate children aged 5 to 11 against the deadly virus. There are an estimated 780,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech currently available for children.

There are currently six pilot vaccination sites for children aged 5 to 11, including the Fil Oily Gym in San Juan, Manila Zoo, National Children’s Hospital, Philippine Heart Center, Philippine Children’s Medical Center and the Skydome at SM North Edsa.

The Philippine government also expanded the vaccination program to areas in Central Luzon and Calabarzon on Feb. 8. The country is aiming to vaccinate 15.5 million children belonging to the 5 to 11 age group.

“We are glad that as a nation, we are able to extend the protection given to adults and adolescents to now include children as young as 5 years old,” the Philippine Pediatric Society and the Pediatric Infectious Disease Society of the Philippines said in a joint statement.

“Parents and guardians of children aged 5–11 years are enjoined to discuss vaccination with their healthcare provider and obtain their information from reputable sources with the right experience and expertise,” the statement added.