A three-week-old infant died in Qatar from the consequences of a "serious infection" due to Covid-19, a rare case announced on Sunday by this Gulf country.
Mortality from the coronavirus is very limited among children, but health authorities in several countries have recorded more cases of infection among them since the spread of the Omicron variant.
"A three-week-old baby has unfortunately died from a serious Covid-19 infection," the health ministry said in a statement.
“He had no other health problems or known hereditary diseases,” he said, adding that this was the second child to die from this disease in Qatar since the start of the pandemic.
More infections in children since Omicron
“A larger number of children are infected in the current wave and require more medical attention,” according to the same source.
Infant deaths due to Covid-19 have been announced by different countries since the start of the pandemic, but these cases have remained very rare.
Read alsoCovid-19 in children: should we be worried about the record number of hospitalizations?
The daily number of infections in Qatar has reached around 4,000 in recent days, 20 times higher than the figures announced in mid-December.
The main public hospital group in the country suspended the leave of all its medical and administrative staff working with Covid-19 patients at the end of December, due to the increase in cases of contamination.
In total, Qatar, a country of 2.6 million people, has officially recorded nearly 300,000 cases, including around 600 deaths.
