14-day-old infant dies of COVID-19

ILOILO CITY, Philippines — One of the latest fatalities of COVID-19 in this province was a 14-day-old infant.

Igbaras town Mayor Jaime Esmeralda confirmed the report on Saturday through his Facebook account.

“As a matter of protocol, the boy was swabbed Friday night (Aug. 13), after he was pronounced dead at the Rep. Pedro Trono Memorial Hospital in Guimbal town. The result came out the following day,” Esmeralda said.

The mother, who was not identified, gave birth on July 30 at a hospital in San Joaquin, he said, adding that she had a normal delivery and was discharged and reminded to comply with the 14-day isolation health protocol.

Eight days after, they returned to the hospital for a follow-up checkup and nothing was found irregular in the boy, Esmeralda said.

The hospital instructed the mother, a resident of Barangay 5, to have the baby immunized with anti-tubercolosis (BCG) vaccine on Aug. 10 at the Rural Health Unit of Igbaras.

The midwife who administered the vaccine claimed that she did not notice anything irregular.

However, on Wednesday, the mother said she noticed swelling with rashes at the baby’s injection site on the night of the same day and she decided to bring him back to the RHU the next day. The baby was subsequently given medication for allergy.

“On the night of that day, the baby had difficulty breathing and was getting bluish,” she said, prompting her to rush the baby to Esmeralda, who is also a doctor.

He immediately called an ambulance for the boy to be brought to a hospital in Guimbal. However, the boy had died.

“For now, we can’t say where the child contracted the virus,” Esmeralda said.