A newborn baby girl has been found abandoned on the side of a road in a cardboard box wrapped in blankets with a bottle of milk.

The 16-day-old was discovered by passing motorists who saw her wriggling in the box, nestled on pink and blue blankets, and heard her cries.

When they lifted her out to comfort her, they also discovered a hidden note, which read: ‘The baby girl was born on 4th August 2018.’

The residents alerted police and took care of the newborn until officers arrived and took her to a hospital for treatment, reports the Mirror.

Medics say she is healthy and showed no apparent signs of illness or any birth defects.

Good Samaritans have now been turning up to the hospital in South China hoping to adopt her.

Local police, from Changmei in Huanjiang Maonan, confirmed the infant will remain with the authorities while they search for her mother or parents.

If they are traced, they could face up to three years in jail if found guilty of abandonment.

It comes just days after a police officer in Argentina was praised for her act of kindness after breastfeeding a neglected ‘smelly and dirty’ baby in hospital.

Celeste Ayala, from Berisso, was working on guard duty at the Sor Maria Ludovica children’s hospital in Buenos Aires when the baby was brought in.

The youngster was crying inconsolably, suffering from malnutrition.

Hearing the child’s desperate cries of hunger, Celeste’s maternal instinct kicked in and she asked overloaded staff if she could hold and feed him.

As she then started to breastfeed the baby, he immediately began to relax.

A colleague of Celeste praised her for her actions on social media.