South Africa Records First Death Cases Due To COVID-19 In Newborns

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JAKARTA - South Africa (South Africa) recorded deaths due to COVID-19 in newborns for the first time. This happened when South Africa was facing a rising number of deaths, the Ministry of Health said.

The two-day-old baby was born prematurely and has difficulty breathing and needs ventilator support soon after birth.

“His mother tested positive for COVID-19. The child also tested positive for COVID-19. It is important to look at the complexity of the underlying premature condition, ”Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said in a statement.

South Africa is a country that has the highest COVID-29 cases on the African continent. The country reports that there are 803 new cases in a 24 hour cycle. The total number of COVID-19 cases in South Africa is currently 18,003 and 339 of them have died.

In addition to dealing with people who have contracted COVID-19, the country is also devoting huge resources to prevent poor people from starving because the COVID-19 outbreak is rendering them unemployed. But undocumented citizens and stranded migrants face starvation when they sneak into the country.

About 11,000 families waited for food packages on Wednesday May 20 in lines stretching several kilometers outside the South African capital, Pretoria. Aid workers estimate that more than half of those awaiting the third distribution of aid this month are migrants.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has been praised for trying to reduce the impact of the two-month restrictions on activities. It has set aside 50 billion rand (2.78 billion US dollars) in grants to the poor, who make up half of the citizens of Africa's most developed country.

But in order to claim gifts or food packages, people need the country's identity, which migrants are not entitled to accept. However, many South African residents from poor areas fail to get it.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has expressed concern about the increasing number of new coronavirus cases in poor countries. This happened when many developed countries began to relax their restrictions on activities.

"We still have a long way to go to deal with this pandemic. We are very concerned about the increase in cases in low and middle income countries," WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a news conference.