Newborn baby and mother test positive for coronavirus

A NEWBORN baby is the youngest person in the UK to have tested positive for coronavirus, it emerged last night.

The pregnant mother developed pneumonia-like symptoms and was rushed to North Middlesex hospital in London where she was tested for the virus. The baby was also tested “within

‘Health officials are urgently trying to find out the circumstances behind their infections’

minutes” of arrival. The child’s mother was only diagnosed after giving birth according to the The Sun.

It is not known whether they developed Covid-19 during labour or if they were infected while the baby was still in the womb. There is currently no evidence that the virus can be passed to a baby during pregnancy.

The baby remained in isolation in the hospital while its mother was moved to an infections centre. A spokesman for North Middlesex University Hospital, said: “Two patients … have tested positive for coronavirus. One has been transferred to a specialist centre and one is being treated in an isolation room.”

A source told The Sun: “Health officials are urgently trying to find out the circumstances behind their infections.”

Newborn babies should not be separated from infected mothers who can still breastfeed, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (Rcog) has said.

There is currently no evidence that the virus can be transmitted through breastmilk and Rcog has advised that the benefits of breastfeeding outweigh any potential risks of transmission of the virus. Pregnant women do not appear to be more susceptible to the symptoms of the virus than the rest of the population.

At the start of February, a newborn in Wuhan was diagnosed with the virus just 30 hours after birth.