Story By: Alex Cope, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News

A 40-day-old baby has died from COVID-19 after he was picked up and cuddled during visits by neighbours, who came to congratulate the family on the new arrival.

The baby tested positive for COVID-19 when he was just 28 days after being taken to Smart Pamekasan General Regional Hospital in the Indonesian province of East Java.

After nearly two weeks of treatment, he has now died and local coronavirus task force chief Syaiful Hidayat said that contract tracing pointed towards the baby having contracted the virus from neighbours who visited him after he was born.

Hidayat said that many of the neighbours had held the tot, who has not been named in reports, during their visits.

The tot is said to have begun showing symptoms of the virus including coughing, a fever and breathing problems, after the visits.

His parents have tested negative for coronavirus and COVID-19 task force spokesperson Sigit Priyono.

He said however that they had found people with symptoms of the virus and others who tested positive had failed to self-isolate in the Tlanakan district where the baby lived.

The tot has since been buried under strict coronavirus protocols.

According to the latest figures from the Johns Hopkins University, Indonesia has suffered 47,896 cases of COVID-19 with 2,535 related deaths.