A baby has tested positive for coronavirus shortly after being born at a London hospital, becoming one of the world’s youngest patients.
The child’s mother was tested for the illness before giving birth at North Middlesex Hospital, in Edmonton, but the result was not confirmed until after she had her child.
The Sun reported that the infant was tested within minutes of being delivered, and doctors are working to establish whether it was infected during birth or while in the womb.
The mother, who was originally being treated for suspected pneumonia, has been moved to a different hospital for specialist treatment.
A spokesperson for North Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust told The Independent: “Two patients at North Middlesex University Hospital have tested positive for coronavirus.
SYMPTOMS OF CONORAVIRUS: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/china-coronavirus-symptoms-wuhan-outbreak-virus-treatment-what-a9292451.html
Coronavirus: What are the symptoms, where has it spread and is it worse than the flu?
Covid-19, the deadly disease that began as a novel coronavirus causing pneumonia-like symptoms in central China, has now spread around the world and is having profound impacts on nearly every major economy.
The outbreak began with a trickle of concerning reports from around the Chinese city of Wuhan in mid-December, before China finally informed the World Health Organisation of the disease on the last day of 2019.
It appears to have had its origins in a seafood market in Wuhan. But it emerged at a time when many were travelling for the Lunar New Year, and Wuhan is a hugely popular hub for travel both within China and internationally.
The disease was isolated for study on 7 January, and by 20 January the Chinese authorities confirmed what many experts already suspected – that the virus spread easily from human to human.
Since then, coronavirus cases have been confirmed in more than 80 countries and territories across the globe.
Here’s a breakdown of what we know about the disease, where it has spread and what you can do to help reduce your risk of catching it.
The novel virus is one of a family of diseases known as coronaviruses, a group that causes respiratory infections. They are all zoonotic, meaning they have the potential to be transmitted between animals and humans. Covid-19 is the seventh of its kind that is known to infect humans, while there are several others circulating only in animals that have not yet infected humans.
Other diseases to infect humans in this group range from the common cold and seasonal flu to SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) and MERS (Middle East respiratory syndrome).
SARS first infected people in southern China in late 2002 and spread to more than two dozen countries, killing nearly 800 people. The Chinese government initially tried to conceal the severity of the SARS epidemic, but its cover-up was exposed by a high-ranking physician.
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