A baby boy from the province of Batangas is the youngest patient to succumb from COVID-19, the Department of Health (DOH) announced in its virtual presser last night.

“The youngest fatality for COVID-19 is a 29-day-old from Batangas,” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said. She added that the infant died of sepsis “due to [a] severe respiratory infection” and that he was brought to a hospital after experiencing shortness of breath and difficulty in breathing.

Vergeire said no other details can be given out of respect for the privacy of the victim’s family.

Read: Baby girl from Calapan City tests positive for COVID-19 in Oriental Mindoro’s first confirmed case

Prior to the infant’s death, a 7-year-old girl from Pangasinan was the youngest known coronavirus fatality in the Philippines, who died of “hypovolemic shock” or critical loss of fluid caused by severe infectious diarrhea and dehydration.

As of press time, the Philippines’ confirmed coronavirus cases has reached 5,234, the highest in Southeast Asia to date. The number includes 335 deaths and 295 recoveries.

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