'Stay at home,' pleads mum of boy (5) struck by coronavirus

THIS is the heartbreaking photo of a five-year-old New Milton boy who is fighting coronavirus at University Hospital Southampton.

His mum, Tanya Isaac, said she wanted the A&T to share the image to reinforce the government’s message to people not to go out.

Byron, who had attended school until last Friday, was rushed to hospital yesterday (Thursday).

He had originally fallen unwell on Monday and had been seen by doctors, but things took a turn for the worse when he became unresponsive.

Tanya said he had suffered with severe pain, shakes, has difficulty breathing and struggles to walk.

Tanya said she and her family had self-isolated after his school term ended but he had still caught the virus.

In a post on Facebook Tanya said: “To those who are still out meeting in the big groups, sunbathing at the park and bundling one another in supermarkets, to the ones who make jokes about the coronavirus, and the ones who are saying kids are fine and will survive – here is Byron.

“Five years old, non-verbal and suffering because of your ignorance to this worldwide crisis.

“He is an asthmatic and has had temperatures [up to] 41; vomiting, severe body pain, shakes, unable to walk, difficulty in breathing and an aggressive cough and so on…”

She urged the public: “Keep yourself and your family and friends and especially young children safe… stay at home people.”

Her appeal comes as the latest government figures stated as of yesterday there are 267 confirmed cases of coronavirus from the Hampshire County Council area and 15 from the BCP Council area.

In the UK in total there are a total of 11,658 cases, and so far 578 people have died.

Tanya’s call comes after a week during which campsites and car parks around the New Forest have been closed down and Dr Rachel Anderson, the lead clinician at Lymington New Forest Hospital, urged locals to follow government guidelines.

That call was echoed by Hampshire police yesterday which angrily told people that by sunbathing and going on coastal walks along Barton and Milford clifftops they were “putting lives at risk”.

An exasperated post on Facebook by Lymington Police said: “The government has authorised one form of exercise a day, this does not include sitting down the beach or in the forest enjoying the weather.

“Please think about how your actions have consequences for others and how difficult you are making our job by doing this.”

This story was amended on 27th March 2020 to clarify dates.