A 13-DAY-OLD baby is believed to be one of the UK's youngest coronavirus victims after passing away in hospital with the virus.
The baby, whose gender was not revealed, is not believed to have had any underlying health conditions and it is unclear how the newborn contracted the virus, according to the BBC.
The tragic death was announced by health chiefs at a press briefing yesterday, when it was revealed that the baby was one of 135 people across the UK who lost their lives to Covid-19 in a 24-hour period.
The news came after Sheffield Children's Hospital announced the death of a child of a child on Monday who had been admitted to the hospital in a critical condition.
The child's age or gender was not revealed, and the hospital said they had tested positive for Covid-19 but the cause of death had not yet been confirmed.
In May, a three-day-old baby passed away in hospital after his mother contracted coronavirus, The Guardian reports.
The baby boy, Coolio Carl Justin Morgan, is thought to be the youngest Covid-19 victim in the United Kingdom.
He was found to have been starved of blood and oxygen in the womb, and his primary cause of death on his death certificate was listed as severe hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy.
Maternal Covid-19 was listed as a secondary cause of death.
The 13-day-old baby is not believed to have had any underlying illnesses (Getty)The Covid-19 pandemic has so far claimed over 42,300 lives in the UK, which has a total of 301,900 cases.
There has been some hope in the fight against the pandemic, however, as researchers identified a cheap and widely available drug which cuts the death rate of patients on ventilators by a third.
Dexamethasone, a low-dose steroid, has been hailed as a "breakthrough" and "lifesaving drug" after it was found to reduce the risk of death for Covid-19 patients on ventilators by a third, and patients receiving oxygen treatment by a fifth.
Costing just £5 per dose, researchers say the drug, had it been identified as a treatment at the start of the pandemic, could have saved up to 5,000 lives in the UK.
Lead researcher Professor Martin Landray said that one life could be saved for every eight patients on a ventilator or every 20-25 on oxygen, stating there is a "clear, clear benefit".
"The treatment is up to 10 days of dexamethasone and it costs about £5 per patient, so essentially it costs £35 to save a life."
