A one-year-old girl in the UK with a congenital heart defect and chronic lung disease is among the youngest in the country to recover from coronavirus.
Leah Peters was born prematurely at 32 weeks and five days and has spent much of her life in and out of hospitals battling her health conditions.
When Leah developed a cough, her parents Agata and Michael said they were "not overly worried" and assumed she had caught an illness from her sisters Natalie, four, and Emily, five.
"We assumed it was a cold or another bug they had brought home and were not overly worried," Agata said.
But because of Leah's heart condition, the family has a nurse who visits their home every week and she was more concerned.
"The nurse took her stats and as they were a bit low and combined with the cough she called an ambulance and we were taken to the emergency department at Pilgrim Hospital in Lincolnshire where she was given oxygen and she picked up a bit."
Agata said it was only later that they discovered Leah had contracted COVID-19.
"We really were surprised. Because of Leah's existing conditions we had talked about coronavirus and feared if she caught it she would really struggle.
"But she is a little fighter and has surprised us all. She was sent home the day after we received the test results and is doing really well at the moment."
The family praised the work of the NHS staff who have cared for Leah over the last year.
"All of the NHS staff have been amazing," Agatha said.
"Even through all of the protective personal equipment (PPE) they have to wear, they have been so sweet and caring."
United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust Deputy Chief Executive, Mark Brassington said the staff were trying to go above and beyond in their care for patients like Leah.
"It really does lift all of our spirits to hear how well she is now doing," he said.
“Leah is among more than 130 patients diagnosed with coronavirus who have already been able to leave our hospitals to continue with their recoveries."
The NHS is encouraging residents to stay home during the pandemic to try and minimise the spread of the virus, and therefore ease the load on health care workers.
The United Kingdom currently has over 125,850 cases of COVID-19 and 16,550 have died. They have the sixth-highest number of cases in the world.
