Representative image for Covid-19.
Credit: iStock Photo
Bengaluru: A 9-month-old baby boy in Bengaluru has tested positive for Covid-19, health department officials said on Friday.
According to the state health department, the boy tested positive on Thursday at a private medical college in Hoskote and was shifted to Vani Vilas Hospital. "He is currently stable," said Harsh Gupta, principal secretary of the state health department.
"Two other children admitted to another hospital in the city have tested positive and are recovering. We have discussed it with experts. They informed us that this is a normal pattern with viruses -- neonatal cases are reported because babies have low immunity but they tend to recover very fast without any complications," he told DH.
As of May 23, Karnataka has reported 35 active cases of Covid, 32 of which are in Bengaluru. The state health department maintains that there is no reason to panic, even as a gradual increase in cases has been observed.
Harsh Gupta also observed that the private medical college shouldn't have shifted the baby to the city just because he had tested positive for Covid. "All hospitals are well-versed with treating Covid cases. There was no situation to shift the case. We will be serving a notice to the medical college. We are giving a strong advisory to hospitals that they shouldn't transfer Covid cases like this because it causes stress and can lead to complications," he added.
Precautions for people
1. Pregnant women, children, immune-compromised people and those with comorbid conditions shall wear face masks while visiting crowded places. Steps like maintaining hand hygiene, using hand sanitizer may also be followed.
2. People presenting with symptoms of Severe Acute Respiratory Illness (SARI) shall consider getting tested for Covid on priority, for timely treatment as well as to check further spread of Covid-19.