Newborn baby infected with coronavirus

Newborn baby infected with coronavirus

The presence of coronavirus was determined just 30 hours after the birth of the baby, the BBC reported.

It is the youngest person diagnosed with coronavirus.

The baby's mother tested positive before she gave birth. It is unclear how the disease was transmitted - in the womb, or after birth.

Chinese agency Xinhua reported that the baby, who weighed 3.25kg at birth, is now in a stable condition.

Following this case, doctors at the Children's Hospital in Wuhan said that pregnant women infected with the new coronavirus could transmit it to their children.

The test on the baby was done 30 hours later and it was confirmed that the baby had a coronavirus, doctors said.

All vital functions in a baby are stable, the baby doesn't have high temperature and does not cough, but have shortness of breath, doctors say.

The X-ray showed that there were signs of infection, and some abnormalities in liver function were noted.

Chief physician of Wuhan Children Hospital's neonatal medicine department, Zeng Lingkong, told Reuters: "This reminds us to pay attention to mother-to-child being a possible route of coronavirus transmission".

The hospital also revealed details of another case, involving a healthy baby born on January 13th.

Her nanny was later diagnosed with coronavirus and her mother a few days later.

The baby started showing symptoms on January 29th.

Zeng said doctors could not immediately determine if the nanny had transmitted the virus to the mother and the mother to the baby, but could confirm that the baby was in close contact with the infected, which, he said, also meant that the infants could become infected.

However, he emphasized that none of the infected babies were in critical condition.