COVID-positive woman gives birth in Delhi hospital; baby tests negative for virus

A 28-year-old COVID-positive pregnant woman, who was allegedly refused admission by some hospitals after she went into labour, has delivered a baby at a healthcare facility here and the new-born tested negative for the infection, doctors said.

The woman gave birth to a baby girl on Thursday in the 39th week of her pregnancy and the child has tested negative for coronavirus. It was a normal delivery, the Indraprastha Apollo Hospital said in a statement.

All immediate family members of the woman have also tested positive for COVID-19 and the woman was refused admission by some hospitals before she was brought to the facility, the statement added.

Pregnant women are at a higher risk of contracting COVID-19 as compared to other adults, Dr Ajay Sinha, senior consultant, Internal Medicine, said.

Though not all have serious complications if affected by coronavirus and only experience mild to moderate flu-like symptoms, it is important that extra care and precautions are taken for treatment and management of pregnant women who are COVID-positive, for the well-being of the mother and the unborn child, he said.

"In this case, she was tested positive after going through a compulsory COVID-19 test pertaining to the current situation, few days before her due delivery date," Sinha said.

Dr Kiranabala Dash, Consultant, Gynaecology, said the woman was COVID-positive and hence, the staff had to be extra cautious to ensure that no harm was caused to either the mother or the child.

All measures were taken to ensure the child does not contract any virus," Dash added.

The mother and the child have been kept under observation in isolation and both of them are doing well, the doctors said.

"The patient and her kid is being looked after by the hospital staff as her entire family has tested positive for COVID-19. The patient initially had health complications post-delivery such as low BP but is doing fine now," the hospital said in the statement.