(File pic) Photo: Getty ImagesWellington Hospital has more than 20 babies in its children's ward, many on oxygen, as the spread of the potentially deadly RSV virus escalates. Christchurch Hospital has had an average of 56 babies in its neonatal intensive care, far higher than its planned maximum of 44. The clinical leader of Wellington hospital's child health service, Andrew Marshall, said it has an entire ward dedicated to babies with the virus, many of them very sick. Though preschoolers also caught the disease, it was babies who tended to be worst affected and, in the most serious cases, the virus could be fatal. He hoped the upcoming school holidays would help to slow the virus in the community.

Source: Otago Daily Times July 05, 2021 21:33 UTC