MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 29th March, 2020) An infant younger than one year who had tested positive for COVID-19 has died in Chicago, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH).
"There has never before been a death associated with COVID-19 in an infant," IDPH Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike said on Saturday, as quoted by WLS-TV. According to the Illinois Department of Public Health, it is the first coronavirus-related death of a child under one year of age in the United States.
An investigation is now underway to determine the exact reasons behind the infant's death, according to Ezike.
"We must do everything we can to prevent the spread of this deadly virus. If not to protect ourselves, but to protect those around us," the IDPH director said.
So far, it has appeared that the new coronavirus risk group includes only the elderly and those with pre-existing conditions. Newborns and children have appeared largely unaffected.
According to the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center, there are now more than 122,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the United States and over 2,000 deaths from COVID-19. Illinois has reported over 3,400 cases, including more than 40 deaths (over a dozen deaths were registered on Saturday alone).
