COVID-19 claims life of infant in Surat

A 14-day-old boy, one of the youngest Covid-19 patients in Gujarat, died at Surat's New Civil Hospital.

Surat: While the Gujarat government remained tightlipped over increasing death tolls due to COVID-19 infections, another shocking incident in the state has come to the fore. A 14-day-old boy died due to COVID-19 at Surat’s New Civil Hospital on Wednesday. The newborn's family lives in Uchhal village of Tapi district.

According to doctors, the infant was tested positive for the Covid-19 virus three days after his birth. Following this, the family members rushed to Surat’s New Civil Hospital where doctors detected that the child had kidney ailments.

The infant was kept for treatment of COVID-19 in the hospital but after 11 days, the infant died. The body of the infant will be handed over to the parents after post mortem, doctors said.

Child specialist Dr Vijay Shah of Surat’s New Civil Hospital said, "The infant was weighing 2.8 kg when he came to the hospital. He had fever, kidney ailments and also COVID-19. Septicemia could be the reason for his death."

Reportedly, in Gujarat, the new cases of COVID-19 on a daily basis have crossed the record 7,000 thousand mark. With the constant increase in new cases, the recovery rate has dropped to 87.96 per cent.