Coronavirus: Newborn with COVID-19 confirmed in the UK as youngest case in the world

A baby born overnight has tested positive for coronavirus — hitting headlines for being the world’s youngest confirmed case.

A tiny baby – born overnight in the UK – has become the world’s youngest case of coronavirus.

The child’s mother had been rushed to a London hospital days earlier with suspected pneumonia, reports The Sun.

Overnight, she and her tot were being treated at separate hospitals in North London’s Edmonton.

The mum was tested at North Middlesex Hospital but her positive result was known only after the birth. The baby was tested within minutes of arrival.

Medics are still trying to establish whether the tot was infected during birth, or contracted the virus in the womb.

The baby remains at the hospital while the mum has been moved to a specialist infections hospital.

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A newborn baby tested positive for coronavirus, making the child the world’s youngest person to test positive for the deadly virus. Picture: istock.

A source said: “Staff in contact with both patients have been advised to self-isolate. Health officials are urgently trying to find out the circumstances behind their infections.”

The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists has advised that healthy babies should not be separated from infected mums and can be breastfed.

Health officials stress pregnant women and babies are at low risk of complications from the virus and most will have mild symptoms.

Like most major cities around the world, Brits are being told to do their duty for the country’s coronavirus effort and self-isolate for seven days if they have a mild cough or cold.

Anyone with even mild symptoms should not leave home for seven days from when their symptoms start to stop the virus spreading.

They should also sleep alone – as well as wash their hands regularly for 20 seconds with soap and water.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared the outbreak a global pandemic, with 

WHO director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus saying the medical body has “rung the alarm bell loud and clear”.

Europe is now being heralded the “epicentre” of the global coronavirus pandemic, the head of the World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared.

“More cases are now being reported (in Europe) every day than were reported in China at the height of its epidemic,” director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

The continent now had “more reported cases and deaths than the rest of the world combined, apart from China”.

This article originally appeared on The Sun and was reproduced with permission