More government officials have also been infected. Deputy Secretary for Justice Horace Cheung Kwok-kwan and Permanent Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism Joe Wong Chi-cho both tested positive on Friday and were under isolation.

Hospital Authority Chief Manager Dr Lau Ka-hin said beds for children with Covid-19 in public hospitals were nearly at full capacity as about 70 per cent were occupied. He added that some children had been admitted to adult wards instead.

“We have no choice if more children are admitted [to our hospitals], we must set aside more beds to provide them with suitable treatment,” he said, adding that the occupancy rate could not reach 100 per cent since hospitals needed vacant beds for new patients.

“Lowering the admission number is the most important factor,” he said. “It’s hard to completely avoid infections due to rising cases in the community. Hence, we need to increase vaccination to prevent worsening conditions after infections.”

According to official figures, a total of 136 Covid-19 patients aged 11 or below are currently admitted to public hospitals, with two children in critical condition in intensive care units.

Earlier in the day, Professor Lau, who chairs the Scientific Committee on Vaccine Preventable Diseases, urged parents not to wait for the arrival of the special version of the BioNTech coronavirus shot for younger children as authorities might not buy the vaccine because of cost concerns.

“BioNTech will not sell us the baby or children’s version of vaccines because the government may not accept its prices,” Lau told a radio programme.

He also predicted that the more transmissible Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants could increase in proportion from the current 60 to 90 per cent of caseloads, with daily infections reaching 14,000 to 15,000.

He said the number of toddlers being vaccinated should be raised from about 400 a day currently to 800 to 1,000 to cope with the surge in infections.

Children aged six months to three years have since August been able to receive a Covid-19 vaccine in Hong Kong, but only Sinovac jabs are provided. Lau said vaccination among the age group was unsatisfactory, as only 12.23 per cent of the population had received the first shot.

Lau also estimated there would be 1,000 to 2,000 additional virus-related fatalities involving elderly residents, driving the city’s total number of Covid deaths beyond 10,000 by the end of the year.

He later clarified with the Post that his remarks were his own understanding of “how negotiations are conducted worldwide between pharmaceutical [firms] and government”, as such talks were often marred by delays and unpredictability.

In response to Lau’s comment, Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan of the Centre for Health Protection said progress was “smooth” regarding discussions with BioNTech for the procurement of a version of the vaccine for children and infants, adding that some procedures took time.

“I understand it’s in progress although we do not have an exact date of delivery,” she said. “I understand Professor Lau wants to ask people not to delay the vaccination because the cases are increasing now and we have observed some serious illnesses and death among children.”

Meanwhile, the government’s decision to include children as young as five years old in the city’s vaccine pass scheme was criticised by the Hong Kong Committee on Children’s Rights.

The NGO said vaccination should not be a precondition for children’s fundamental rights, as the move would bar some from engaging in activities that were essential to their development and could further shrink their social lives.

‘Hong Kong children from 5 to 11 will soon need 2 Covid vaccine shots to eat out’

It added that it was impractical for children to own a phone or carry paper proof with them wherever they went, and it also created a huge financial burden on low-income families to purchase extra devices.

“We support vaccination but there are more effective measures to encourage vaccination, and it is not the only means of preventing the spread of the virus,” it said in a statement. “Simply lowering the age of the vaccine pass would not be an effective way to relieve the concerns of parents who have hesitations about the vaccine.”

In another development, the Social Welfare Department ramped up its testing criteria for visitors at care homes, requiring them to obtain a negative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) result issued within 48 hours before visits starting from Monday.

Separately, police on Friday night said four Covid-19 patients were sent to the Penny’s Bay isolation facility after they violated quarantine orders.

The group had all been issued red codes as part of the government’s new system, meaning the four were identified as infected with the virus, but the force said all of them had breached home isolation before the orders had expired.

Additional reporting by Jess Ma