Five-month-old baby dies after being given turtle's blood to drink to protect her from coronavirus in the Dominican Republic

• The infant received the animal blood from a witch doctor and died on Sunday 
• Her older sister, 7, and her parents also drank the blood and were sent to hospital
• The five-month-old girl has been described by local reports as Haitian  
• Here’s how to help people impacted by Covid-19

A five-month-old girl has died after drinking turtle blood to protect her from Covid-19.

Local media in the Dominican Republic are reporting her seven-year-old sister and parents were hospitalised after drinking the animal blood as part of a potion recommended to them by a Haitian witch doctor.

The baby was already dead by the time she got to Rosa Duarte Hospital in Comendador according to the reports.

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.'

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/on Tuesday.

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.

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.