SINGAPORE, Feb 23 — Some hospitals here are increasing their paediatric capacity to cope with an increase in children infected with Covid-19.

Three hospitals — Mount Alvernia Hospital, KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH) and National University Hospital (NUH) — told TODAY in response to queries that they were doing so amid an increase in the number of children being admitted for the coronavirus in recent weeks.

Associate Professor Kenneth Mak, the director of medical services at the Ministry of Health (MOH), said late last month that children below the age of 12 are starting to make up the majority of Covid-19 cases admitted to hospitals.

Health Minister Ong Ye Kung then said earlier this month that more resources such as hospital beds have been set aside for them.

In an update last Wednesday (February 16), the ministry said that the infection rates for children up to four years old, and those aged between five and 11, are "high”, at about 243 and 258 per 100,000 population respectively.

It also said that it was standing up more beds for children in public and private hospitals, as well as converting beds in its Covid-19 treatment facilities for children and their caregivers.

Yesterday, MOH said that there has been a surge in demand for hospital beds, mostly for patients with underlying chronic illnesses, due to the wave of Omicron coronavirus strain transmission.

Singapore reported a record 26,032 new Covid-19 cases yesterday.

Responding to TODAY’s queries, Mount Alvernia Hospital said that it has seen an increase in paediatric Covid-19 admissions over the last two weeks.

There were 52 such hospitalisations from February 14 to 20, compared to 36 the week before.

To deal with the increase, the hospital set aside another ward on Tuesday to increase its total bed capacity for Covid-19 cases from 58 to 86.

With the increase, the current occupancy rate of the beds now stands at less than half, at around 46 per cent.

Associate Professor Chan Yoke Hwee, the chairman of KKH’s division of medicine, told TODAY that the hospital is "working closely” with MOH to increase the national capacity for paediatric patients. She did not provide details on the number of beds it is setting aside for these cases.

Child cases of covid-19 admitted to the hospital have more than doubled over the past two months, she said.

The hospital continues to have the capacity "to deliver a wide range of clinical services to women and children in Singapore”, she added.

Plans are in place to accommodate increases in patient cases if needed.

NUH has seen an increase in children being admitted for Covid-19 since the start of the year.

Dr Chan Si Min, head of NUH’s division of paediatric infectious diseases under the Khoo Teck Puat – National University Children’s Medical Institute, said that the hospital has seen a rising trend in children being admitted for Covid-19 since last month.

"In the first two weeks of February, over half of children hospitalised with viral respiratory illness have Covid-19.”

These children may need to be hospitalised for investigation and management of problems such as viral pneumonia, prolonged fever, dehydration and lethargy, Dr Chan added.

The average length of stay for children with mild Covid-19 is two to three days. Symptoms include fever, cough, runny nose and sore throat.

In addition, the hospital assesses young, Covid-19-positive children in its children’s emergency department soon after their Covid-19 diagnosis, to ensure that they are medically safe and stable to recover at home under the home recovery programme run by MOH.

Dr Chan said that about 4 to 5 per cent of children from this group require hospital admission due to their unsuitability for the home recovery programme.

To cater to the Covid-19 cases, NUH has reopened a family cluster cohort ward to care for families who have been infected with Covid-19.

It has also increased inpatient surveillance to detect incidental Covid-19 infections in children who are admitted for other reasons.

The hospital has set aside existing beds that could potentially be converted to isolation beds for Covid-19 cases who need medical care. — TODAY