One-month-old baby in Delhi recovers from COVID-19, discharged from hospital

The baby was admitted to Moolchand Hospital’s newborn intensive care unit. (Screengrab from video tweeted by @Moolchand_Hosp)

A one-month-old Covid-positive baby, admitted to a hospital in Delhi, has been discharged after recovering from the infection.

The infant was brought to the city’s Moolchand Hospital with an ear infection and tested positive on admission.

“[The child is] getting discharged with full recovery,” the hospital tweeted on January 14. “Well taken care of by the Neonatologists and NICU [newborn intensive care unit] staff in COVID isolation unit.”

Moolchand Hospital shared a video showing a worker dressed in a protective suit carrying the baby in her arms inside the ICU unit.

Covid-19 update :

One month old baby , came with ear infection and tested positive on admission . Getting discharged with full recovery .
Well taken care of by the Neonatologists and NICU staff in COVID isolation unit.@PMOIndia @ndtv @PTI_News @ANI @timesofindia pic.twitter.com/7bPYcND3GL

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

View more

How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

View more

Show

Related stories

• 
  J&K News Live: Congress is with us and they are supporting us, says Farooq Abdullah
• 
  Rishabh Tandon’s last Karwa Chauth post with wife Olesya goes viral after his sudden death in Delh...
• 
  Delhi: 5-year-old boy kidnapped, killed by father's driver, police suspect act of revenge

— Moolchand Healthcare (@Moolchand_Hosp) January 14, 2022

The child was found to be infected with the coronavirus during a pre-admission rapid antigen test, The Times of India reported.

“The baby was admitted in Covid isolation NICU and supported with intravenous fluids and antibiotics for ear infection,” Dr Preeti Chadda from the hospital’s neonatology and paediatrics department told the newspaper.

The child was monitored for four days. After doctors noticed improvement in his health, they decided to discharge him.

In the past two weeks, Moolchand Hospital has treated about five Covid-positive babies, according to The Times of India.

Delhi, like the rest of India, is reporting a surge in coronavirus cases with the spread of the Omicron variant. Infections among children have also gone up. India is yet to start vaccination for children below 15.

The capital recorded 20,718 new cases and 30 deaths on January 15. The number of active cases went up to 93,407, while the toll reached 25,335. The positivity rate in the city was 30.64%.

Figures released by the health ministry earlier in the day showed 2,68,833 new coronavirus infections in the country -- the highest in 240 days. The daily count of deaths was 402. The number of active cases in India rose to 14,17,820, while the toll reached 4,85,752.

India has confirmed 6,041 cases of the Omicron variant.