A four-month-old baby girl died on Friday at the Kozhikode Government Medical College in Kerala after testing positive for coronavirus. The child's parents have been tested for samples and their results are expected to be made known later in the day. The infant was said to be suffering from heart ailments including pneumonia since birth and was first taken on April 17 to a Manjeri private college after struggling to breathe properly. After being shifted to another hospital in a nearby town, the baby was brought to the Kozhikode Medical College on April 21 with signs of fever and breathing problems.

As of now, it is unknown as to how the baby girl contracted the COVID-19 virus. Meanwhile, it has been revealed that one of the child's relatives upon returning from abroad had tested positive, but had not come in direct contact with the child. The five doctors, who had been treating the newborn in Manjeri, have since been shifted to quarantine with the source of the baby's infection yet to be identified.

Kerala Health Minister KK Shailaja said, "The four-month-old baby was admitted because she had breathing difficulties. The baby had heart disease from the time of birth and was being treated at a private hospital. We usually test patients with respiratory illness for COVID-19. This child tested positive. We tried our best but couldn't save her,". The child's death is the third in the state with the number of positive coronavirus standing at 447 of which 129 are said to be active cases. More than 23,000 people are currently under observation and 316 have been cured so far.