Victorian child deaths spike during Covid lockdown after series of home accidents

Eight young children have died in the past two months across Victoria in a series of incidents experts say have spiked due to the state’s Covid-19 lockdown. In one case, a youngster was unintentionally strangled after getting caught in a curtain chain. Each year an average of 17 children die from unintentional injuries across the state, according to the Victorian Injury Surveillance Unit. But there have been eight deaths since the beginning of August, the coroner reported. They were all aged under five.