A 42-year-old woman in Hong Kong died because of the Coronavirus infection on Saturday, December 12. But the surprising fact about this case is that she had no underlying health conditions. Soon after she developed symptoms, the virus killed the woman.
The woman developed symptoms of the novel Coronavirus infection on December 4. Two days later, she was admitted to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital's Intensive Care Unit, said the hospital authority. At that time, she had fever, cough, as well as shortness of breath and then tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 caused disease. When she was in the hospital, the woman was put under ventilation for breathing assistance but she died on Saturday night, six days after her admission.
Concerns About Younger Patients
Authorities have warned about the new trend of younger COVID-19 patients contracting serious illness compared to Coronavirus's previous waves in Hong Kong. As more young patients, who are generally less affected by COVID-19 than older people, become severely ill, concerns for the health of these groups of individuals have been rising.
The recent victim of novel Coronavirus infection, the 42-year-old woman, is the third-youngest COVID-19 fatality in Hong Kong. A 38-year-old man died of COVID-19 in November and a 39-year-old male lost the battle against the disease when the outbreak began in the city earlier this year. But in both cases, these two men had underlying health conditions, while the woman was otherwise healthy.
Sara Ho, chief manager at the Hospital Authority, said that those who develop symptoms should visit the doctor without wasting any time. "You never know whether you are the one who will be affected severely by this infection," she added. According to recent reports, David Hui, an expert in respiratory medicine at the Chinese University of Hong Kong advised the public not to assume that their Coronavirus infection will be mild if they are young.
Hong Kong is now witnessing another spike in Coronavirus cases. Even though the government has tightened social distancing rules and mandated testing for high-risk groups, the daily numbers have not gone down significantly. However, as of now, it has reported over 7,500 cases and 117 deaths.
