Officials offer details on 7-month-old coronavirus patient

Shanghai health officials released further information about the youngest coronavirus patient in the city, a 7-month-old girl, at a press conference on Tuesday.

Zheng Jin from Shanghai Health Commission said the girl’s maternal grandparents arrived in Shanghai from Wuhan, in Hubei Province, the heart of the current epidemic, on January 20. They had dinner with other family members, none of whom had recent contact with Wuhan, on January 21 and 24.

On January 25, the grandparents voluntarily disclosed their recent travel from Wuhan to a neighborhood health center. They were staying with the girl and her parents at that time.

After the girl’s paternal grandfather was diagnosed with coronavirus infection on February 2, the girl, her parents, paternal grandmother and maternal grandparents were all ordered to stay at home for medical observation as close contacts. Some members of the family started to show fever that afternoon and were transferred to the hospital for quarantine and treatment.

On Monday, nucleic acid tests confirmed that the girl, her mother and maternal grandfather were infected with coronavirus. Her father, paternal grandmother and maternal grandmother tested negative for the virus but were still kept under quarantine and observation.

Currently, the girl and other infected family members are all hospitalized at designated medical facilities and are in stable condition.

Zheng said this case has a clear epidemiological trail and authorities reiterated that all people from key outbreak regions must report their movements voluntarily and undergo strict at-home quarantine and observation.

All residents are advised to stay indoors and not hold gatherings or family dinners to prevent the spread of the virus.