Coronavirus Australia: Baby, mum separated due to hospital restrictions

NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard will be calling his Queensland counterpart after COVID-19 quarantine restrictions saw a newborn separated from his parents.

The health ministers on either side of the NSW-Queensland border are in talks after a newborn baby boy who was flown to Brisbane for lifesaving medical treatment was separated from his parents after they were blocked from entering the hospital due to coronavirus restrictions.

“All I want are both my boys with me, happy and healthy,” the baby’s heartbroken mother, Chantelle Northfield, told 7 News.

“But one is going to be in Brisbane where we can’t see him.

“I just want him to know how much I love him.”

RELATED: Follow our live NSW coronavirus coverage here

Baby Harvey. Picture: Chantelle Northfield

She held her son – Harvey John Northfield born at 5.38am on August 14 – for a fleeting moment at Lismore Base Hospital but due to breathing difficulties he had to be flown north of the border to the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital that night for “extensive” medical treatment.

“I obviously wanted to go with him, but unfortunately with the coronavirus pandemic, we were not able,” Ms Northfield said.

She and her husband Glen, who live in Casino in northern NSW, were told there was no room in the helicopter but that they could come by car.

Mr Northfield said they made a lot of phone calls and spoke to “a lot of different people”.

RELATED: More than 600 people denied entry into Qld

A newborn baby receiving lifesaving treatment in Brisbane has been separated from his parents due to coronavirus border restrictions. Source: 7 News

However, after receiving the necessary permissions from NSW Health and Queensland Police, the hospital told them they were “too high-risk” and would have to quarantine for 14 days.

“Harvey was sent to a Brisbane Hospital via helicopter Friday night as he was having trouble breathing and needed further treatment then the amazing workers at Lismore could do,” Ms Northfield said in a post on Facebook.

“Due to the coronavirus pandemic and the closure of the Qld border, Glen and I were refused entry to the hospital until after 14 days mandatory quarantine in a hotel.

“We would have been more than willing to do that if there was a guarantee that Harvey would be there for that long but no one is 100% sure and the second he no longer needs such extensive treatment he will be flown back to Lismore.

The baby boy and his parents on Friday. Picture: Chantelle Northfield

“Any parent can understand the stress and the heartache of being home without your baby whilst they’re in a hospital and you’re not allowed to visit.

“The biggest problem is me as the mother and the supposed provider of food source could not get an exemption even if I took a test and it came back negative.

“We have tried our absolute hardest to get there, and the workers for the hospital tried as well, it was just one person from higher up that refused our entry.”

The couple welcomed their second son on Friday. Picture: Chantelle Northfield

He is receiving treatment at the Royal Brisbane Hospital. Picture: Chantelle Northfield

Ms Northfield said “on a good note” her newborn son was “getting better”.

“They have lowered his oxygen levels down to 25% so far from 100% oxygen,” Ms Northfield said.

She is now relying on video calls to see her newborn.

“FaceTime’s just not the same because I can’t even lay a finger on him,” she told 7 News through tears.

“And just say that I love him.

“He’s just hooked up to tubes, he’s sleeping, he doesn’t get to hear my heartbeat and feel the comfort through that.”

The baby continues to improve and doctors hope he will be back in NSW, with his parents and one-year-old brother Lloyd, by Wednesday.

“It’s just not right and it shouldn’t happen ever again to anyone,” Mr Northfield said.

NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard at a press conference on Monday he found out about the case on Sunday night while watching the news.

“No one has brought that to my attention,” he told reporters.

“But if I were not here, I would have actually made a phone call to (Queensland Health Minister) Steven Miles to find out what we can do, and I will do that as soon as this is all over.”

Mr Miles told 7 News on Sunday: “If there is any way at all we can make this situation any less distressing, then I’ve asked the hospital to do just that.”

NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Joel Carrett

Queensland Health Minister Steven Miles. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Tertius Pickard

Thousands of people have signed a petition to reunite Ms Northfield with her baby.

NSW recorded seven cases of COVID-19 in the 24-hour period until 8pm Sunday, Premier Gladys Berejiklian said on Monday.

One of those was in hotel quarantine.

There were no new cases reported in Queensland on Monday and there are eight active coronavirus cases across the state.