A four-month-old baby girl, who was being treated for Coronavirus and had been suffering from congenital heart disease at birth, died in Kerala’s Kozhikode Medical College, at around 6 am on Friday, after suffering a cardiac arrest. She was also suffering from pneumonia.

This is the fourth  COVID-19 death and the first infant fatality in the state where three elderly people had succumbed to the disease earlier.

The swab samples of the baby’s  parents have also been sent for  COVID-19 tests and the results are awaited. The family belonged to Payyanad near Manjeri in Malappuram district.

The infant, was admitted to the Medical College Hospital  on April 21 with history of fever, cough, breathing difficulties and seizure after being treated at two other hospitals and the end came at 6 am, according to the  hospital’s medical bulletin.

K K Shailaja, Kerala’s  Health Minister said that the  doctors had made maximum efforts to save the life of the child.

“Preliminary information which we have is that there has been some primary contact”, she said while talking to the reporters in Thiruvananthapuram.

The protocol for COVID-19 cases would be followed for the baby’s last rites, the Minister added.

The bulletin said on arrival at the hospital on Tuesday the baby was in shock and had respiratory failure.

“She was resuscitated, mechanically ventilated and appropriate antibiotics for pneumonia and supportive measures to correct shock were started”, it said adding the baby, however, continued to remain sick.

“Even though there was no history of any high or low risk contact or any epidemiological links as the child comes from SARI (Sever Acute Respiratory infection) criteria, she was admitted to the COVID-ICU and swab was taken and she tested positive”, the bulletin said.

Contact tracing of those who had come in contact with the child was in progress.

Mallapuram District Medical Officer (Health) Dr Sakeena K said the child was having severe health issues from its birth itself and was admitted to a private hospital in Manjeri near here with breathing problem.

As her condition worsened, the baby was shifted to another hospital and later to the medical college hospital.

“The baby was having chest deformity and Atrial Septal Defect by birth which developed into severe health issues, the official added.

The total active COVID-19 cases in the state, which reported India’s first novel coronavirus case stood at 129 till Thursday. The total positive cases of coronavirus reached 447 in the state, while 324 cases have been cured/discharged/migrated, according to Ministry of Health data.

Earlier, a 69-year-old NRI businessman in Kochi and a 68-year-old retired police official in Thiruvananthapuram died in March due to Coronavirus. A 71-year-old resident of Mahe in Puducherry also died at Parayaram Medical College in Kannur.

Kerala had reported India’s first case of novel Coronavirus on January 30. A student, who was studying at Wuhan University in China and returned to his home state, had been confirmed of being infected with the virus.