A newborn child who had been wrongly declared dead may have suffered from hypothermia.

The infant was born on a Toronto sidewalk on Sunday after her mother went into labour while on her way to hospital.

Paramedics rushed the woman and child to hospital, where the infant was declared dead.

1-and-a-half hours later, while Toronto police officers were watching the body waiting for the coroner to arrive, one of the officers noticed the infant move.

The baby girl was alive, and transferred to Toronto Sick Kids Hospital.  She is expected to recover fully.

Hypothermia can cause the body's metabolism to slow down so much that a person can appear to be dead.