The first baby this Chinese New Year was born at Thomson Medical Centre at the stroke of midnight on Sunday, right down to the second.

Proud parents of the baby boy, Mr Koh Sun Ming, 31 and Madam Zhang Jingjing , 30, received $8,888 in cash, and several other goodies such as diapers and a gold-plated Snake figurine from Risis and the hospital.

A spokesman for Risis, a gift store, said that this is the first time in seven years that the reward has gone to a single baby. In other years, it was split among a few babies born at the same time.

Considered the first snake baby of the year, David Koh was born at 2.78kg, and is the first child for Mr and Mrs Koh.