By Merlina Hernando-Malipot
The Chinese State media on Wednesday reported that a baby in Wuhan, which is the epicenter of the new virus strain, has tested positive for novel coronavirus (2019-nCOv) just 30 hours after birth - making the infant the youngest person to be infected with the deadly virus.
According to an Agence France-Presse (AFP) report, the mother of the infant was tested positive for the virus before giving birth. On February 3, Xinhua news agency said that a baby born last week to an infected mother had tested negative for nCoV.
Based on the daily briefing on novel coronavirus cases, the National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China noted that as February 4, it has received 24,324 reports of confirmed cases and 490 deaths in 31 provincial-level regions on the Chinese mainland. “There still remained 23,260 suspected cases and 3,219 patients in serious condition,” the NHC said.