14-month-old boy with no travel history contracts COVID-19 in Jamnagar

A 14-month-old boy with no travel history has tested positive for coronavirus in Gujarat’s Jamnagar district, sending the health officials into an overdrive to find out from where the child contracted the deadly disease.

The child, whose test came out positive on Sunday (April 5), is on ventilator support and the locality where his labourer parents reside in Dared village has been put under complete lockdown to check the spread of the virus, officials said.

This is also the first case of coronavirus infection in Jamnagar district.

The health administration now has undertaken the task to trace the source of infection to the child.

Since the child’s parents are casual labourers with no recent travel history, health officials are yet to find out the exact source of infection, Jamnagar Collector Ravi Shankar said.

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“The child is the son of a labourer couple hailing from Uttar Pradesh. They live in Dared industrial area on the outskirts of Jamnagar city and work in factories as casual labourers. They have not gone out of the area since long. Yet, their 14-month-old son got the coronavirus infection,” the collector said.

He was brought to a government hospital on Saturday by his parents after his health condition started deteriorating. He tested positive for coronavirus on Sunday, Shankar said.

“The boy is undergoing treatment. His parents are asymptomatic, but as a precautionary measure, we have quarantined them,” he said.

The child is currently on ventilator support, state principal secretary (health) Jayanti Ravi said.

The labourers colony in Dared village has been put under total lockdown to contain the spread of the virus, the collector added.