The baby girl’s parents and her seven-year-old sister are also in hospital after drinking the blood which was reportedly recommended to them by a witch doctor as Covid-19 protection
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Child's body pulled from river close to where missing toddlers last seen holding hands
The baby was given the potion after the family visited a witch doctor (Stock image) (Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto)
A five-month-old girl has died after being given turtle blood to drink as a bizarre remedy to protect her from coronavirus.
The baby's seven-year-old sister and parents have also been hospitalised after drinking the animal blood too.
The potion was recommended to them by a Haitian witch doctor, according to reports in the Dominican Republic.
The baby was already dead by the time she got to Rosa Duarte Hospital in Comendador, it is understood.
Her relatives are said to be “serious but stable.”
Hospital director Dahiana Volquez was quoted as saying: “These types of cases are caused by people who think these drinks can have curative qualities, but can end up being deadly.”
The baby had already died by the time she arrived in hospital, reports say
Comendador is a municipality in the province of Elias Pina on the Dominican Republic’s border with Haiti.
The baby girl is said to have died on Sunday, although details only became public yesterday.
Local reports have described the infant as Haitian, although it is not clear if she lived in the poverty-stricken former French colony or in the Dominican Republic.
There is absolutely no evidence turtle blood is a coronavirus remedy (file photo)
(Image: 2013 Getty Images)
In August 2012, four children from the same family were found dead in Haiti after being treated by a doctor who claimed to be able to cure them of a mystery illness.
An official named Wilfrid Brisson from the southern town of Marbial was quoted at the time as saying the sorcerer and his brother beat the children repeatedly after persuading the victims’ mother they were possessed by a demon and he could rid their soul of the devil.
According to official statistics Haiti has suffered 33 Covid-19 deaths and 1,174 cases.
In the Dominican Republic there have been nearly 15,800 cases and 474 deaths.
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