BY Pamodi WaravitaApproximately 150 children are currently receiving treatment for the Covid-19 virus at the Lady Ridgeway Hospital for Children (LRH), with one child admitted to the Intensive-Care Unit (ICU) of the hospital.Speaking to The Morning, Consultant Paediatric Intensivist at the LRH Dr. Nalin Kithulwatta said that six of the 11 ICU beds at the LRH have been allocated for potential Covid-19 patients.“Statistics show that since the pandemic began, 45,000 children have been infected with Covid-19, and 20,000 of them have been under the age of 10 years. There have been 14 child deaths due to the pandemic. We recently increased the capacity of the LRH to include two more Covid-19 wards in Rajagiriya,” said Dr. Kithulwatta.The Ministry of Health last week issued guidelines for integrated home-based isolation and management of asymptomatic and mild symptomatic Covid-19 patients. Therefore, Dr. Kithulwatta said that parents should admit children to hospital only if they are experiencing severe symptoms of high fever, inability to orally consume food and drink, diarrhea and vomiting.On 26 July The Morning reported that the ward dedicated to Covid-19 patients at the LRH in Colombo had reached its maximum capacity.“The capacity at the ward is for around 35 patients. Therefore, we are transferring the patients that we cannot accommodate to other hospitals. During the three waves of the pandemic, the LRH has treated about 500 patients in total for Covid-19,” said LRH Director Dr. G. Wijesuriya at the time.Sri Lanka is currently facing a severe spread of the highly transmissible Delta (B.1.617.2) variant of the Covid-19 virus. 2,815 new cases and 98 new deaths were recorded on 7 August due to the virus.
