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Queensland toddler dies from Covid-19: 'Awfully sad'

A toddler has died from Covid-19 in Queensland, health officials have confirmed.

The 23-month-old child who has not yet been publicly identified died from the virus at the Queensland Children’s Hospital on Sunday, a spokesperson for Children’s Health Queensland told Yahoo News Australia.

“We extend our deepest condolences to the child’s family,” the spokesperson said.

During a press conference on Wednesday morning, the state’s Deputy Premier Steven Miles declined to discuss details of the case due to privacy protocols.

A general view of the Queensland Children's hospital where the child with Covid died.
The 23-month-old child with Covid died at the Children's hospital in Brisbane on Sunday. Source: AAP

He also offered his condolences to the child’s family.

"The death of a child is awfully sad," Mr Miles said.

"My heart just goes out to that family, and of course to our health workers who would have done everything that they could to take care of that little child."

Since the pandemic began, 14 children under the age of nine have died from the virus, according to data published by the Australian Department of Health and Aged Services on Tuesday.

It is not known if the toddler’s tragic death is included in that figure.

Parents of young kids still waiting for vaccine approval

The country's leading immunisation advisory group — the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) — has yet to give the final approval for children aged from six months to five years to receive the Covid vaccine, despite soaring case figures and hospitalisations across the country.

In Queensland, there are currently 1023 people infected with Covid in hospital, 26 of which are in the ICU, Mr Miles said on Wednesday.

A 10-year-old boy gets his Covid vaccine.
A 10-year-old boy who was one of the first children in Queensland to receive their first Covid vaccine. Source: AAP

Despite the daunting figures, recent modelling has predicted the state’s latest Covid wave won’t peak until late August, with a maximum caseload of about 1660 hospital patients.

In the past 24 hours, the state has recorded 8,209 new cases, including 19 deaths.

Queensland government has no mask mandate plans

Although some experts have labelled it the toughest Covid wave yet, Mr Miles confirmed this week the Queensland government has no plans to reinstate mask mandates and other social distancing measures.

He said previous measures had only been in place while the majority of the population got themselves vaccinated.

"Now that everyone has had a chance to get vaccinated, we have a different set of responses and measures and you can see the effectiveness of that vaccination in the hospitalisation rates," the deputy premier said.

"So while we are seeing large numbers of cases, the number of hospitalisations as a proportion of those cases is much smaller than earlier variants.

"It's also the number of those hospitalisations who are needing ICU care is lower, and the number of fatal cases as a proportion of total cases is also lower."

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