Coronavirus pandemic: Newborn tests positive minutes after birth, becoming the youngest victim of deadly disease
A baby born in North Middlesex Hospital was reported as having tested positive for COVID-19 minutes after birth, making it the youngest known victim in the 2019-2020 coronavirus outbreak.
According to reports, the child's mother was rushed to the hospital days before the birth after displaying symptoms of pneumonia. While she was tested at the hospital, her positive results for the COVID-19 test were only known after the birth of the child who was tested minutes after its arrival. Medical professionals are now trying to understand whether the baby was infected by the virus through the womb or during birth.
The baby remains at the North Middlesex Hospital while the mother has been moved to a specialist infection hospital and is undergoing treatment. A source told The Sun, “Staff in contact with both patients have been advised to self-isolate. Health officials are urgently trying to find out the circumstances behind their infections.”
On March 13, the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in UK jumped by more than 200 to reach 798, while 11 people were confirmed to have died from the infection. Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson has suggested as many as 10,000 people in the UK could be already infected with the virus.
In early February, the BBC reported another infected mother in China gave birth to a baby who was also confirmed to be infected. A study has shown that mothers are more at risk of becoming sick than their babies from COVID-19.
So far, there have been more than 144,700 cases confirmed worldwide. Over 5,400 people have died due to the infection while over 70,000 have recovered. Globally, the numbers are rising as WHO declared Europe the epicenter for the coronavirus pandemic after confirmed cases and the number of deaths surged exponentially.