Coronavirus link: mystery illness strikes children in UK

UK officials are scrambling to find out if a clutch of children suffering a mystery form of toxic shock have been hit by the coronavirus.

Britain's Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty. Picture: AFP.

British health officials are scrambling to find out if a clutch of ill children suffering a mystery form of toxic shock syndrome are being struck down by the coronavirus.

Medical professionals have been warned to look out for children who suffer Kawasaki syndrome — a six-week illness affecting the lymph system and prevalent in those under five — who also present with fever and sore stomach, which could lead to swelling of the heart.

More than a dozen children had been struck by the mystery illness and have been treated in ­intensive care in the past three weeks.

British Health Minister Matt Hancock said reports of the condition made him “very worried”.

The government’s Chief Medical Officer, Chris Whitty, said: “This is a very rare situation but I think it is entirely plausible that this is caused by this (corona) virus, at least in some cases.”

Doctors have been concerned with the sudden rise of children with the combination of unusual symptoms: fever, abdominal pain, heart swelling, sometimes a rash and gastrointestinal complaints; appearing to be a mix of toxic shock and Kawaski syndrome.

Blood tests taken from the children revealed a profile similar to adult patients with COVID-19, but while some of the children tested positive for coronavirus, some were negative.

The Health Service Journal ­reported the increase in such cases in the past three weeks.

“There is a growing concern that a Sars-CoV-2-related inflammatory syndrome is emerging in children in the UK, or that there may be another, as yet unidentified, infectious pathogen associated with these cases,” the journal said.

Doctors have been told to refer children with the symptoms to hospital for urgent assessment.

Meanwhile, hospitals across the country will reopen for cancer patient care, including chemotherapy, more than a month after shutting to prepare for an influx of coronavirus patients.

Mr Hancock said cancer treatment could restart because the NHS had the capacity to reopen some services. He said 42 per cent of intensive care beds were empty.

But Professor Whitty warned the public: “We need to view the epidemic in the long run and this has a very long way to run.”

He said the death rate in Britain could go “a lot of different ways over next many months’’, saying this would continue “until there is a clear exit of vaccine or drugs or some other route where we don’t have people dying from it’’.

The government will pay £60,000 ($115,000) to families of NHS workers who die on the frontline of the coronavirus battle.

Mr Hancock said there would be a life assurance scheme for the families of such medical staff.

“Nothing replaces the loss of a loved one,’’ Mr Hancock said.

“We want to do everything we can to support families dealing with this grief. We are looking to other professions to see where this may be also required.’’

Mr Hancock said 82 NHS workers and 16 others working in social care had died of coronavirus.

The seven-day rolling average of deaths in Britain has continued to fall, with 360 deaths announced on Monday, taking the tally to 21,092.

Downing Street was reportedly preparing a blueprint to ease the lockdown in a gradual way within days, starting with the opening of hardware stores and rubbish tips followed by garden stores in a fortnight. Railway companies are preparing how to manage social distancing with 2m markings on the floors and increasing services so that there is little overcrowding when some workers are allowed to return to their offices.

It is expected that despite a division in the scientific advice about wearing masks, commuters, especially on the crammed London Tube, will be required to wear one.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson, on his first day back at work in three weeks after a bout of COVID-19 that left him dangerously ill, said he shared Britons’ impatience to get back to normality. But he said “we simply cannot spell out now how fast or slow or even when those changes will be made”.

Mr Johnson indicated that any loosening of the lockdown would happen in stages, as authorities “begin gradually to refine the economic and social restrictions and one by one to fire up the ­engines of this vast UK economy”.

Countering claims that the government has been secretive in its handling of the crisis, Mr Johnson promised decisions about ending the lockdown would be made “with the maximum possible transparency” and in consultation with businesses, regional authorities and opposition parties.

With AP