Four-week-old tests positive for Delta strain
<p>A four-week-old baby boy has become Sydney’s youngest COVID-19 case after catching the virus from his father who brought it home from work.</p>
<p>Beth Kouts took her newborn son, Lukas, to Nepean Hospital in Sydney on Monday with what she thought was reflux, but instead, he tested positive for the Delta variant.</p>
<p>Kouts said her baby was “screaming in pain, refusing his bottle and would vomit.”</p>
<p>“I have heard a two-year-old get it but not a four-week-old - so, yeah, that was terrifying,” she told <em>7NEWS</em>.</p>
<p>She adds after her newborn returned a positive result, they were left waiting for 14 hours before finally being given an adult bed.</p>
<p><strong>Sent home to self-isolate</strong></p>
<p>Doctors told Kouts that Lukas would need to be transferred to Westmead Children’s Hospital but after a 24-hour wait, they were sent home instead.</p>
<p>“I do know that they’re under the pump, just a little bit more care would’ve been nice,” Beth said.</p>
<p>“It’s always hard to see your kid sick especially with this.”</p>
<p>It’s thought the baby contracted the virus from his father who brought it home to St Clair from his workplace last week.</p>
<p>Beth is waiting for her results but their toddler Emily is, so far, negative.</p>
<p>The symptoms Lukas is experiencing, like most children, are mild and similar to those of a common cold.</p>
<p>“When parents make babies - they make babies that are born with some really good immunity already because they’ve got it from their mother through the womb,” Infectious Diseases Physician Professor Robert Booy told 7NEWS.</p>
<p>The Kouts family is now isolating at home.</p>
<p><em>Image: 7News<br /></em></p>
