A baby the size of a adult's palm has survived the first 48 hours after its birth in a hospital in Shanghai and is now on a respirator, according to a Shanghai Wednesday evening newspaper.

"The infant boy weighs 630 grams, only one fifth of the normal weight of a newborn baby. He was born to a woman surnamed Shen," said Zhou Jian, an official with the Fifth People's Hospital.

He stopped breathing and his heart stopped beating after he was delivered but doctors were able to get his heart beating again," Zhou said.

The baby has only been inside his mother's womb for 30 weeks. The survival rate for such premature babies is less than 10 percent, according to research figures.

Source: Xinhua