Netherlands Reports The First Baby To Die From Coronavirus

THE Netherlands reports the first baby to sadly die from coronavirus, who already had other diseases, according to the Institute for Health and the Environment (RIVM).

The tragedy is the first documented case in the country and the RIVM has stressed that what happened does not imply that children are at greater risk at this time of the pandemic.

For privacy reasons, RIVM does not want to provide more information about the deceased baby. The registration shows that it was a boy. A spokeswoman for the institute calls the death ‘very sad’.

The spokeswoman could not say what ‘underlying suffering’, as the RIVM calls serious disorders, the baby was suffering from. “It was not a healthy baby”, is all she could say about it.

“The death of the child does not mean that children are now suddenly more at risk from the coronavirus”, the spokeswoman said. “There is no reason to fear this.”

The official count of infections adds up to 56,440 in the last week in the Netherlands: 10,000 less than seven days earlier. There are 2,882 people hospitalised, of which 723 are in the ICU.