Newborn tested positive for novel virus in China

ANKARA

A newborn baby tested positive for deadly coronavirus in China, 30 hours after delivery, according to Chinese media on Wednesday.

The baby was born Feb. 2 and was in stable condition with a lung infection and was short of breath. The child did not show symptoms of fever or coughing, said China Global Television Network (CGTN).

Doctors at the Wuhan Children Hospital warned that infected pregnant women could pass the virus to their unborn child, CGTN reported.

Although the hospital has seen mothers infected, most of the newborn babies at Wuhan Children Hospital have not been infected, said CGTN.

“While mother-to-child transmission remains unclear, another infected woman in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province gave birth to a healthy girl on February 3,” the network added.

The death toll from the coronavirus outbreak, which originated in Wuhan in December, has risen to nearly 500, with more than 24,000 confirmed cases.

The virus is said to have been transmitted to humans from animals, particularly bats.

Besides China, the virus has spread to more than 20 countries, including the U.S., U.K., Singapore, France, Russia, Spain and India.

Many countries have evacuated their citizens from Wuhan and other affected areas of China, placing them in isolated medical care.

The World Health Organization (WHO) last month declared the outbreak an international emergency.