E-Paper
20-day-old Jaipur infant may be world’s youngest Covid-19 victim
The bereaved father only slides the hood and shield covering his face to have one last glimpse at the bundle enclosing his child. His face is flushed with sweat caused by the suffocating PPE suit or it could be his tears.
An eerie silence has already descended on Jaipur city with the long absence of people from the streets due to the extended lockdown to curb the Covid-19 pandemic. Only the shrill sirens of ambulances passing through empty streets break the gloomy silence at times. There is a hush in burial grounds and cremation centres alike. More so if the bereaved are walking around in puffed PPE (personal protection equipment) kits.
“Mera hi bachcha hai (It is my child),” mumbles a frail Abdul, standing beside the mortuary official and ambulance driver, both in PPE suits, near the body of his 20-day-old son. The infant is perhaps the youngest Covid-19 victim in the world.
“Suhaan,” says Abdul speaking just one word which is the name of his child lying wrapped in protective medical covers no bigger than a small white bundle. The prayers are read with the body still in the ambulance and driven into the cemetery as a precaution against the coronavirus infection.
The bereaved father only slides the hood and shield covering his face to have one last glimpse at the bundle enclosing his child. His face is flushed with sweat caused by the suffocating PPE suit or it could be his tears.
With the rigorous cremation protocol for Covid-19 victims, it is hard for the bereaved to choose between grief and fear.
“We know of a 45-day-old Covid-19 positive case from Jamnagar and one from the US, but this child was just 20 days old,” informs Dr. Ashok Gupta, Superintendent of JK Lone children’s hospital where Suhaan was being treated for sepsis, according to his symptoms.
Ruling out an infection from the mother (intrauterine infection), since no one in Abdul’s family is Covid-19 positive yet, Dr. Gupta suggested the baby may have been exposed to someone who was perhaps asymptomatic.
Since the family came from Chandpole, an area under curfew due to a high number of Covid-19 positive cases, he decided to test the newborn for the virus too. But the child passed away within a day of being brought to the hospital, before the report emerged positive.
“Please write all this...perhaps it can save someone’s newborn from coronavirus,” pleads Abdul as he drinks water beneath a tap at the cemetery, somehow managing to keep his hands clad in gloves and cautiously away from his face.
