Woman recovering from COVID-19 gives birth

The mother and son pose for a photo with medical workers at Shenzhen No.3 People's Hospital. Courtesy of the hospital

A woman, identified an asymptomatic COVID-19 patient, gave birth to a baby boy at Shenzhen No. 3 People’s Hospital on Saturday.

The woman recovered from the disease a month ago and was negative in six separate nucleic acid tests. The newborn was not infected with the virus, a release of Shenzhen No. 3 People’s Hospital said yesterday.

The mother and baby were discharged from the hospital safe and sound yesterday.

The mother, a resident of Shenzhen, visited relatives in Wuhan in Hubei Province with her husband in January. At the end of January, she had a fever and her maximum temperature reached 38.5 degrees Celsius.

In early February, she tested positive and was quarantined at a hospital for 14 days. After testing negative, she was discharged. She and her husband also self-isolated at home until the end of March before taking a train to Shenzhen.

In early April, the woman went to the hospital for prenatal care. She tested positive for COVID-19 though she did not have the symptoms of fever and cough.

The CT test showed no symptoms of COVID-19 infection, so the hospital withheld medical treatment, but arranged two nurses to take care of her.

The woman was discharged after 10 days in the hospital and tested negative six times in follow-up tests.

On Saturday, she gave birth to a healthy baby boy, who tested negative. But tests of samples of placenta and embryo lemma showed they were acid positive.

“The mother should have passed the anti-virus capability to the baby. Placenta and embryo lemma are natural barriers to block the transmission of virus and bacteria,” said Xia Junxia, a doctor with Shenzhen No. 3 People’s Hospital.