An Egyptian medical team performed, on Sunday, a caesarean section on a patient of the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) at Hurghada Central Hospital in the Red Sea governorate.
The medical team followed the necessary prevention measures before the c-section, wearing protective suits. The operation was performed inside the Hospital’s hotel section.
Local media reported that the 35-year-old mother and her newborn are in stable condition, with the medical team testing the newborn to ensure that he is COVID-19 negative. Other reports have said the mother, who had received treatment at the Easna Quarantine Hospital, had already recovered from the virus three days before the baby’s delivery.
The test results for the newborn have yet to be announced, amid rising fears that the mother may have passed the potentially deadly disease to her newborn. Globally, all newborns who have tested positive for the coronavirus have since recovered.
According to a new study recently published in the medical journal, JAMA Pediatrics, three of the 33 pregnant women in Wuhan, China, who had also tested positive for the coronavirus had given birth to babies who themselves tested positive for the virus.
Despite how transmission of the virus occurs between mother and fetus remains unclear, samples including amniotic fluid, cord blood, and breast milk tested negative for the virus. However, researchers said that “vertical maternal-fetal” transmission or infection that happens directly between mother and child during pregnancy or childbirth cannot be ruled out.
