Karl Stefanovic reveals his daughter Harper has been incredibly sick this year

Karl Stefanovic has revealed his two-year-old daughter Harper has been battling health issues for 12 months, with Dr Nick Coatsworth suggesting a ‘lack of human movement’ during Covid lockdowns is to blame.

The Today Show host spoke with the top doctor on Wednesday about children getting hay fever when he brought up his daughter.

‘My daughter, Harper, she’s been getting a lot of sicknesses. It’s been a terrible year,’ he said.

The Today Show host spoke with Dr Nick Coatsworth (right) on Wednesday about hay fever when he brought up his daughter

‘She got crook last week with influenza. She has an asthma kind of thing now. But it’s not asthma. It is helping. So a lot of kids are going through that at the moment, aren’t they?’

Dr Coatsworth explained the effects of lockdown were a major contributing factor to the respiratory illnesses affecting both children and adults, as our immune systems adapted to the country opening back up again.

‘A lot of kids, adolescents, adults… we’ve had this awful season of respiratory viruses. Almost certainly attributed to lack of human movement during lockdown, which of course we needed to do. But this is the price we pay,’ he said.

Dr Coatsworth said he could ‘almost guarantee’ it was going to be a better flu season in 2023 as ‘our immune memory is stimulated by all of these viruses’.

‘Our immune system has evolved over millions of years. It’s there to help us, it’s there to protect us,’ he said. 

‘When we’re exposed to viruses, it certainly makes us stronger for the future.’

The health expert added that some children and adults who become ill will require asthma medication, like Karl’s daughter.

‘So, yes, some children and adults will need asthma medication for a short period of time, particularly for the post viral cough,’ he said. 

Harper Stefanovic was rushed to hospital back in June with a respiratory syncytial virus, leaving her TV anchor father ‘panicked’ and ‘feeling guilty’.

Dr Coatsworth explained that the prevalence of respiratory illnesses amongst Aussies was attribtued to the ‘lack of human movement’ during lockdown

Harper Stefanovic (pictured with mother Jasmine) was rushed to hospital back in June after her temperature reached a dangerous 40°C and her heart rate raced to 200bpm

Karl has explained at the time how his daughter had ‘the sniffles and a small cough’, which led to him and wife Jasmine, 38, taking her to the GP.

But her condition soon deteriorated, with her temperature reaching a dangerous 40C and her heart rate racing to 200bpm.

She was then rushed to hospital in an ambulance and diagnosed with a respiratory syncytial virus, which are common in children in the winter months.  

‘Two days ago, my daughter Harper had what’s she had so many times this year, a sniffle and a small cough,’ Karl told Today show viewers at the time. 

‘Within a few hours we gave her Nurofen and Panadol like advised and put her down for a sleep.  

‘When she woke up she was breathing really quickly, wheezing, and her heart rate and temperature were through the roof.’