NEW YORK — A 5-year-old boy has died from a severe illness possibly linked to COVID-19, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Friday.

During his daily coronavirus briefing, Cuomo said the boy died in New York City Thursday from coronavirus-related complications and officials are investigating several other child deaths with similar circumstances.

"This would be really painful news and would open up an entirely different chapter because I can't tell you how many people I spoke to who took peace and solace in the fact that children were not getting infected," Cuomo said.

"We thought that children might be vehicles of transmission," Cuomo added, "but we didn't think children would suffer from it."

Though the illness is said to be rare, there have been about 73 reported cases in children in New York, Cuomo said.

Symptoms are similar to the Kawasaki disease and toxic shock syndrome.

Parents and guardians are advised to seek care immediately if a child experiences the following symptoms:

• Prolonged fever (more than 5 days) difficulty feeding (infants) or too sick to drink fluids
• Severe abdominal pain, diarrhea, vomited
• Change in skin color (pale, patchy, blue)
• Trouble breathing
• Racing heart/chest pain
• Decreased amount/frequency of urine
• Lethargy, irritability, confusion

This story was originally published by Kristine Garcia at WPIX.