Youngest And Oldest Hong Kong COVID-19 Deaths Recorded On Same Day

Hong Kong reported 4,285 new COVID-19 cases and a record daily high of 10 virus-related deaths Wednesday, the latter of which included both the youngest and oldest coronavirus fatalities in the Chinese city's current outbreak.

Among the deceased was a 3-year-old girl, who died at Hong Kong Children's Hospital in Kai Tak Tuesday night, South China Morning Post reported, citing Hong Kong’s Hospital Authority.

The girl's death was caused by acute brain inflammation that was triggered by her COVID-19 infection, unnamed sources told the outlet.

She had no underlying medical issues and was in critical condition after being admitted to Prince of Wales Hospital in Sha Tin Saturday.

The girl was then transferred to an intensive care unit at Hong Kong Children's Hospital, where she died.

A 100-year-old woman with chronic illness was also among the deaths reported Wednesday, a report by Bloomberg said.

The girl and the woman are now the youngest and oldest Hong Kong residents, respectively, to die in the city's current outbreak, according to the outlet.

The remaining fatalities were seven elderly patients, all of whom were at least 72 years old, as well as a 37-year-old man.

"The hospitals are saddened by their deaths and will provide help to their families," Dr. Sara Ho from the Hospital Authority was quoted as saying by the Hong Kong Free Press.

Hong Kong has now reported a total of 26,670 COVID-19 cases — broken down into the 14,020 confirmed since the start of the current outbreak in late December 2021 and the 12,650 recorded during the entire pandemic before that point — as well as 235 virus-related deaths.

At least 7,000 preliminary positive cases were still pending confirmation, according to Dr. Chuang Shuk-kwan of the Centre for Health Protection.

Meanwhile, another 17 COVID-19 patients between the ages of 45 and 91 were still in critical condition, The Standard reported.

The number has gone down to 16, publicly available government data showed.

Most of the patients in critical condition were unvaccinated, according to South China Morning Post.

About 17% of confirmed cases that were recorded two weeks leading up to Wednesday's report were pediatric patients, or people under the age of 17. Around 9% of the pediatric patients were aged 6 or below, according to official figures.

Acute deaths among children could have been caused by the children's lack of exposure to viruses, among other reasons, according to Lau Yu-lung, a pediatrician who chairs a government committee on vaccine-preventable diseases.

Additionally, some children might also have genetic defects that made them unable to produce sufficient amounts of interferon alpha — a protein produced by the body in response to infections — which resulted in high viral load and inflammation of organs.

"You can’t change your body, but what you can change is vaccination," Lau said.

The Hong Kong government lowered the minimum age for receiving Sinovac's CoronaVac COVID-19 vaccine from 5 to 3 years old Tuesday.

Vaccination for children aged 5 to 11 with BioNTech's vaccine started on the same day.