A baby in China’s epidemic-hit Wuhan city has been diagnosed with the novel coronavirus just 30 hours after being born, Chinese state media reported Wednesday.
The infant is the youngest
person recorded as being infected by the virus, which has killed nearly 500
people since emerging late last year.
CCTV quoted experts as
saying it may be a case of “vertical transmission”, referring to infections
passed from mother to child during pregnancy, childbirth or immediately after.
The mother had tested
positive for the virus before she gave birth.
The official Xinhua news
agency reported Monday that a baby born last week to an infected mother had
tested negative.
The disease is believed to
have emerged in December in a Wuhan market that sold wild animals and spread
rapidly as people traveled for the Lunar New Year holiday in January.
China’s national health
commission said on Tuesday that the oldest person diagnosed with the virus is a
90-year-old and that 80 percent of reported deaths have been of patients 60
years of age and older.