Story By: Alex Cope, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Newsflash
A four-day-old baby diagnosed with coronavirus has died in Brazil becoming the country’s youngest victim of the disease.
The State Secretary of Public Health confirmed that the baby, who has not been identified in reports, died in a hospital in the city of Natal in the northeastern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Norte.
The Municipal Health Department of Natal said the baby had been born prematurely in the early hours of 3rd April in the 30th week of the mother’s pregnancy.
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Local media report that the baby’s mother was suffering from hypertension, diabetes, obesity and a respiratory syndrome which is yet to be diagnosed. She is awaiting the results of tests and is in isolation at home.
The baby reportedly suffered from respiratory problems and was kept in the neonatal intensive care unit. The department did not specify if the baby’s respiratory problems were a result of the tot being diagnosed with COVID-19 or not and the baby died on 7th April.
The Deputy Regional Health Secretary Petronio Spinelli said: “It is a case that is still under investigation. Even though the test was positive, it is not yet known whether the contagion was postpartum, it needs further investigation (in the contamination) with the baby’s relatives.”
According to the latest figures from the Johns Hopkins University, Brazil has suffered 16,188 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 820 deaths and 127 recoveries.
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