Rate of COVID-19 diagnoses in children and admissions to hospital and HITH
| Pre-delta 14 March 2020–3 June 2021 | Delta 4 June 2021–7 December 2021 | Omicron 8 December 2021–13 March 2022 | |
| Victorian population* | 6 595 158 | 6 595 158 | 6 595 158 |
| Total with COVID-19 | 20 565 | 110 371 | 561 519 |
| Rate/100 000 (per month) | 312 (21) | 1674 (279) | 8514 (2693) |
| 0–9 years (% total) | 1249 (6) | 18 557 (17) | 53 885 (10) |
| Rate/100 000 (per month) | 19 (1) | 281 (47) | 817 (253) |
| 10–19 years (% total) | 2062 (10) | 17 937 (16) | 72 222 (13) |
| Rate/100 000 (per month) | 31 (2) | 272 (45) | 1095 (339) |
| RCH catchment population | 2 420 538 | 2 420 538 | 2 420 538 |
| Total with COVID-19 | 14 048 | 66 182 | 415 819 |
| Rate/100 000 (per month) | 580 (40) | 2734 (456) | 17 178 (5325) |
| 0–9 years with COVID-19† | 853 | 11 127 | 39 903 |
| 10–19 years with COVID-19† | 1409 | 10 756 | 53 482 |
| Admitted to RCH 0–9 years, no (%) | 7 (0.8) | 48 (0.4) | 148 (0.4) |
| Admitted to RCH 10–19 years, no (%) | 5 (0.4) | 29 (0.3) | 100 (0.2) |
| RCH HITH 0–9 years, no (%) | 10 (1.1) | 108 (1.0) | 178 (0.4) |
| RCH HITH 10–19 years, no (%) | 6 (0.4) | 46 (0.4) | 73 (0.1) |
| Comparison of HITH (no, %) vs hospital (no, %) admission in children aged 0–19 years | 16 (0.7) vs 12 (0.5) | 154 (0.7) vs 77 (0.4) | 251 (0.3) vs 248 (0.3) |
| 1.3 (0.6 to 2.8) | 1.9 (1.4 to 2.6) | 1.0 (0.8 to 1.2) | |
| p=0.5 | p<0.001 | p=0.9 |
*Victorian population based on 5-year census data.
†Children aged 0–19 years in RCH catchment estimated from overall age proportions in Victoria during each variant as age-specific data per region are unavailable.
HITH, Hospital-in-the-Home; RCH, Royal Children’s Hospital.