Police have charged the mother of a newborn baby boy whose body was found in a Perth stormwater drain earlier this week.

Friday’s development came after Western Australia Police confirmed on Wednesday that a woman in her 30s was assisting with their investigation into the newborn’s death.

On Friday afternoon, they said a woman had been charged with concealing the birth of a deceased child.

“This, of course, is highly distressing for the entire community, detectives and, as you can imagine, the family of the infant,” WA Police homicide chief Acting Inspector Jessica Securo said.

“The assistance of the community in this matter has been invaluable.”

The body of the baby was found by two workers carrying out routine maintenance in Alexander Heights in Perth’s northern suburbs on Monday afternoon.

Police had earlier confirmed the infant was put in the stormwater drain only recently before.

Detective Senior Sergeant Stephen Cleal said on Tuesday that there was no evidence the baby had been washed through the drain system.

Securo said the mother was receiving mental health and medical care would go before Perth Magistrates Court “when she’s able to”.

She said public information led to the identification of the mother and enabled police to get her medical help.

“It was our priority to get her to a hospital,” she said.

A shocked community has left flowers and teddy bears at the scene of the grim discovery, about 17 kilometres north of the Perth CBD, this week.  WA Premier Roger Cook described it as “horrifying series of events”.

“This goes to the heart of everyone’s sense of humanity, a small child whose life has passed under tragic circumstances,” he said.

-with AAP