Coronavirus: Newborn baby becomes one of UK’s youngest COVID-19 deaths
A 13-day-old baby with no known underlying health conditions has died from COVID-19, NHS England reported.
The newborn is thought to be one of the youngest to die from the virus in the UK.
Previously, the youngest person to have died with the disease in the country with no pre-existing health problems was believed to be Ismail Mohamed Abdulwahab, who died in March aged 13 years old.
In May, a six-week-old baby with underlying health conditions died from coronavirus.
In total, 20 children and young people under the age of 19 are reported to have died from the virus in hospitals across England.
It is believed that children are significantly less likely to become ill and die from complications of the virus.
There have been reports of children developing an inflammatory syndrome similar to Kawasaki disease, with symptoms including rashes and swelling. The new illness – dubbed PIMS-TS – has been identified in more than 100 children in New York and recorded in France, Switzerland and Spain.
But public health experts believe the syndrome is as rare as Kawasaki disease.
“Only a small fraction of COVID-19-infected children will ever develop this condition,” Dr Angus Stock from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research told the Sydney Morning Herald.