Quebec’s health minister is offering his condolences to the family of a four-year-old girl after a hospital network in the province’s capital confirmed she died “due to circumstances related to COVID-19.”
“This is incredibly sad news,” Christian Dubé wrote on social media. “I would like to offer my deepest condolences to the family and loved ones of this little girl.”
The CHU de Québec – Université Laval network in Quebec City confirmed the child’s death in a statement Monday. It did not provide more details, citing confidentiality and respect for the patient’s loved ones.
The hospital also extended its condolences to the parents and the family of the young girl.
In mid-December 2021, an infant died of COVID-19 at a Montreal children’s hospital. The CHU Sainte-Justine Hospital said the baby, who was born healthy, had recently been hospitalized with the disease and was receiving treatment in the intensive care unit.
According to Quebec Health Department data, that was the first child under 10 to die of the novel coronavirus in the province.
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In Quebec, the majority of deaths related to the pandemic has occurred among the elderly. The department says 12,364 deaths have been linked to COVID-19 in the province, and more than 70 per cent of them have been among people aged 80 and older.
‘This is terrible’
The Omicron variant may cause less severe disease on average, but it has fuelled a surge in infections in Quebec over the last month. Hospitalizations have reached record highs in the province as cases quickly rose.
The province’s interim public health director said the sheer volume of COVID-19 cases means that the absolute number of pandemic-related deaths — including those of children — is higher.
“With those figures, with Omicron, they are so impressive that, unfortunately, we might find some cases that end that way,” Dr. Luc Boileau told reporters at a news conference Tuesday.
“And this is terrible.”
Omicron cases in infants under one year of age are almost seven times more likely to lead to hospitalizations, Canada’s chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam said last week.
—with files from Global News’ Annabelle Olivier, Raquel Fletcher, Aya Al-Hakim and The Canadian Press
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