He is only three months old … of which three quarters spent in intensive care: “Petru is one of the rare cases” – but not absent – of severe covid-19 infection in a child, describes Vitha’s hospital 9 de Octubre de Valence.
Hospitalized for 9 days
In the vast majority of cases, babies and children do not have a severe form of covid-19. But that’s just a statistic: thousands of them have still been severely affected and even died worldwide.
Peter was born in October last year “in perfect conditions”. Before he was infected at home, by his brother, who was asymptomatic. He had to be hospitalized when he was only nine days old.
He presented “initial respiratory problems and then difficulty eating”, and was immediately taken to an intensive care unit for children, the hospital explains.
70 days hospitalization
During his 70 days in the hospital, his parents could only see him “by video conference” until he tested negative.
Video filmed by hospital workers shows Petru going home with her parents, to the applause of caregivers. When Petru left, she thanked deeply touched, “from the bottom of her heart” for the services provided by the medical team, and assured that she felt “very supported all the time by all the staff” in the hospital.
12 children under two died of covid in Spain
Covid-19, in its symptomatic form, affects the vast majority of the elderly.
In Spain, 66% of people who died between May and January after receiving Covid were at least 80 years old, according to figures from the Carlos III Institute of Public Health.
In the country, twelve children under the age of two still died among the 21,382 confirmed cases in this age group.