Shattered family of a 15-year-old boy in ICU with Covid and meningitis beg fellow Muslims to pray for a miraculous recovery before his life support is turned off
A 15-year-old boy is dying in hospital from meningitis exacerbated by Covid he caught in Sydney's virus-riddled south-west.
Osama Subuh is in intensive care and his family are faced with the heartbreaking decision of whether to turn off his life support this week.
His distraught siblings begged the Islamic community to pray for a miraculous recovery before it is too late.
'I'm urging you all to make sincere dua for our young brother Osama, 15 years old, who's currently on life support due to Covid,' they wrote online.
'Doctors have told us that his life support will be turned off. Our only hope is for a miracle.'
Osama is 15 and on life support in a Sydney hospital. His family says his life support will be turned off is he does not improve
In a press conference on Sunday morning, NSW Chief Health officer Dr Kerry Chant confirmed a 15-year-old boy with Covid-19 was in hospital.
Even though has has tested positive to coronavirus, the cause of his admission was pneumococcal meningitis - a life-threatening infectious disease that causes inflammation of the layers that surround the brain and spinal cord.
Osama's cousin confirmed the teenager's identity to Daily Mail Australia.
The family asked people to pray for the teenager, who attends Kingsgrove North High School in southwest Sydney and was ineligible for a Covid vaccine.
'Please ask Allah the all Powerful, the Most Merciful to make the impossible possible for our young brother Osama to remove the illness from his body that leaves no trace of existence behind,' they said.
'This is every parent's worst nightmare Ya Allah help this family and all who know and love Osama. Remove this anguish and pain with calmness and ease.
'May we see you again with your big smile.'
Hundreds of people answered the call with with prayers and messages of support.
'Please don't let them turn off the life support,' one person wrote.
Another wrote: 'Ya rab Oh he recovers and leave no trace of illness in his body and bring this beautiful boy back to his family.'
'I ask the almighty Allah to cure you! And return you healthy to your family,' said someone else.
Osama's family has urged people to pray for the teenager as he fights for life in hospital
Dr Chant said Osama's family had given their permission for details about his case to be shared with the public.
'This has been cleared by his family. I can confirm that there is someone admitted to hospital that is 15 and that the cause of their admission, while they are Covid positive, is related to another health condition,' she told reporters on Sunday.
'The family has agreed that we can indicate that he has pneumococcal meningitis.'
There were 415 new cases of Covid-19 in NSW on Sunday - 345 were under investigation, while 87 people were in the community for all or part of the time they were infectious.
Four people died in the 24 hours to 8pm on Saturday, including an unvaccinated woman in her 50s, another in her 70s who had one jab, a man in his 80s and a vaccinated woman in her 80s who had an underlying health condition.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the new infections are concentrated around western Sydney, specifically in Blacktown, Mount Druitt, Merion, Maryland, Orban and Guildford - near where Osama Subuh lives in the city's south-west.
There are 62 people in NSW in ICU with Covid.