Coronavirus: Newborn believed to be youngest COVID-19 patient in the UK

A newborn is believed to be the youngest person in the UK to have caught coronavirus.

North Middlesex University Hospital said two patients had tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, which has killed more than 5,000 people worldwide.

The Sun reported that the two are a baby and its mother.

Key Points

• Mass gatherings in the UK will be banned from next week under plans being drawn up by ministers
• The London Marathon is among a number of sporting events cancelled
• Anyone entering New Zealand will have to self-isolate for 14 days
• US President Donald Trump has declared the outbreak a national emergency
• More than 145,000 cases and almost 5,500 deaths have been declared worldwide, according to Johns Hopkins University
• Italy recorded 250 cases in a day, bringing its total to almost 18,000

Eleven people have died in the UK after contracting COVID-19, the disease caused by coronavirus, and the number of confirmed infections has reached 798 – an increase of 208 over the last 24 hours.

The hospital added: “One has been transferred to a specialist centre and one is being treated in an isolation room.

“The safety of our patients and staff is our top priority, so in following guidance from Public Health England, we are regularly deep cleaning the areas where the patients are cared for and staff who were in close contact with these patients were advised to self-isolate.”

The mother had been taken to hospital in London days before the baby’s birth with suspected pneumonia and doctors said her positive result was only known after the baby was born, The Sun reported.

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Doctors are trying to establish whether the baby was infected during the birth or whether it caught the virus in the womb, the newspaper added.

The number of confirmed cases in the UK rose to 798 on Friday, with 11 deaths.

On Thursday, medical experts said pregnant women did not appear to be more susceptible to coronavirus than the general population and that there was no evidence the virus could be passed to the baby during pregnancy.

The guidelines from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, Royal College of Midwives and Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health said there had been no reported deaths among pregnant women from COVID-19.

However, they did recommend that pregnant women going into labour with suspected or confirmed coronavirus should go to an obstetric unit for birth as a precaution.

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(c) Sky News 2020: Coronavirus: Newborn believed to be youngest COVID-19 patient in the UK