Mother, 23 year old, hospitalized in March with a fever and severe cough

The newborn boy developed inflammation in the brain within days of being born, a condition brought on after the virus crossed the placenta and established an infection prior to birth. 

Tests on the baby’s blood and fluid extracted from the lungs revealed Covid-19 infection but ruled out other viral, bacterial and fungal infections the virus had spread from the mother’s blood into the placenta, where it replicated and caused inflammation, and on to the baby.

The baby could be infected infected during or shortly after delivery.