Covid put hundreds of children in hospital in 2021

More than 600 children and teenagers have been admitted to hospital with Covid this year, figures obtained by BBC Wales have revealed.

About half were aged nine and under, Public Health Wales (PHW) data shown.

More than half of the Covid hospital admissions for under 20s, at 370, were registered since the beginning of the September school term.

Maisy Evans, who was in hospital with Covid aged 17, has urged others to get vaccinated.

Maisy, who spent more than a week as a Covid patient at the Grange University Hospital near Cwmbran, in Torfaen, said she had feared for her future.

The aspiring medical student from Newport was initially treated in the hospital's high dependency unit in August this year.

"I was fighting for my life in hospital. It was really scary," she said.

"There was a clot on my right lung and there was a lot of pneumonia caused by Covid.

"The scans looked awful, I looked like an 80-year-old who smokes 20 cigarettes a day."

Maisy said her lungs were inflamed, and there was scar tissue and fluid.

"I think my experience has been an eye opener for people who know me. I want to remind people my age that Covid is not a joke," Maisy said.

"I was 17, I was fairly fit, lived quite a healthy lifestyle and I was in hospital fighting for my life."

She said that some days she just feels "ill, tired, in pain, not wanting to do anything apart from sleep".

"They don't know how the scar tissue will cope, how my lungs will be in future," she said.

"There's a concern also about whether other organs such as the brain and heart may be affected.

"It is scary but that's the reality. Covid is something to worry about, definitely."

Three months on, Maisy said she still feels "weak" from the virus, and is urging all those eligible to take-up the offer of a vaccination.

The data, obtained by Newyddion S4C, show 611 young people aged 19 and under in Wales were hospitalised with coronavirus between January and November of this year.

The figures suggest that, from April to 28 November, 0.74% of children aged 0-9 with a positive Covid test went to hospital - the figure for those aged 10-19 was 0.35%.

This compared to 2.66% for those aged 20 and over.

The data may include people with a positive Covid test, but treated for something else.

Two under-14s have died with coronavirus in Wales, both in September.

Official figures show that while more than 80% of those aged 65-69 have received three doses of a Covid vaccine, just 3% of those aged 12-15 have received two doses.

On Tuesday, Health Minister Eluned Morgan said walk-in boosters would be available to specific groups of people.

A Welsh government spokeswoman said the offer of two doses of a Covid vaccine for children aged 12-15 for their vaccine was under way.

"We are still waiting for JCVI advice on vaccinating under 12-year-olds," she said.

Meanwhile, First Minister Mark Drakeford wants to offer a Covid booster to all adults by the end of the year.