A one-and-a-half-month old girl has been infected with the coronavirus in a rare case of Covid-19 in an infant.

Her mother, who tested negative for the virus, checked into the Covid unit of Rajshahi Medical College Hospital on Saturday with the baby, who had started having breathing problems.

But getting a hospital for the infant named Afreen, who was asymptomatic after testing positive on June 20, was not straightforward.

Her mother, Mahbuba Khatun of Rajshahi city's Chhoto Bongram area, went to two private hospitals, Rajshahi Royal Hospital and Rajshahi Christian Mission Hospital, but Afreen was denied admission to the hospitals as those did not have a Covid ward.

"Doctors denied treating my child when they heard she was infected with Covid-19. Why did they become doctors then?" Khatun told The Daily Star on Saturday.

Finding no way, Khatun, whose husband Arifur Rahman tested positive with Afreen, took her child to the RMCH.

The correspondent found Khatun, wearing a cheap copy of the KN95 mask, sat on the floor of the Covid ward, surrounded by infected patients, with Afreen sleeping in her lap.

"She's my child -- I can't leave her alone.  Who will be responsible if I am infected from staying here with covid patients?" a distraught Khatun asked.

Contacted, RMCH Director Shamim Yazdani said the hospital did not set up a separate Covid ward for children as the infection among them is very rare.

"We don't see infected children much," he said, adding that another child was admitted with covid-19 in May last.

Pediatricians were attending to Afreen although she was admitted to the Covid ward.

The mother was asked to strictly maintain health rules, he said, adding that samples of the child and her mother were taken for testing again at RT PCR laboratory, he added.

Meanwhile, the number of monthly deaths reached a new high on Sunday: in the first 27 days of June, 303 patients died at RMCH Covid ward.

As many as 434 patients were undergoing treatment against 357 beds of 12 wards of the hospital's Covid unit on Sunday.

As the number of patients was still rising on Sunday, the hospital added a new ward with 48 beds.