According to a new study published in The Lancet Child and Adolescent Health, newborn babies are very unlikely to get severe COVID-19 infection.
Researchers at the Imperial College London and the Nuffield Department of Population Health at the University of Oxford tracked down all babies less than 29 days old with COVID-19 across the UK between March and April 2020, with the help of the British Paediatric Surveillance Unit.
Sixty-six babies needed hospital treatment for COVID-19 infection during the study period, which equates to one in 1785 births. Forty-five per cent of the babies with severe COVID-19 infection were from Black, Asian or minority ethnic groups, and 24 per cent were prematurely born. Seventeen of 66 babies were suspected to have acquired the infection from their mother, with two cases likely to be due to in utero transmission.
At the time data analysis, nearly 90 per cent of the babies had completely recovered from COVID-19 infection. There were no deaths among the babies from COVID-19. Although one baby died, the cause of death was not attributed to COVID-19 infection.
Co-lead author, Dr Chris Gale from Imperial’s School of Public Health said: “Parents, and expectant parents, are understandably worried about their babies becoming ill with COVID-19. This study will hopefully provide some reassurance, as it suggests severe COVID-19 infection in newborns is very rare.”
