Lockdown could be to blame for a spike in respiratory illness in children

Starship paediatrician Cameron Grant says babies usually get the RSV infection more than once in their life, and most severely the first time.

But he says because of lockdown, babies born last year weren't exposed.

He says those babies are getting RSV for the first time this year, on top of babies born this year, so twice as many babies are having that first severe infection now.