Covid-19 mothers and babies in Wuhan study off to better start than those during Sars outbreak, doctors report in Lancet
- Early Wuhan study finds only one of seven infants returns positive result soon after birth
- More research needed to assess mother-to-baby transmission of coronavirus
“In our study, the maternal, fetal and neonatal outcomes of pregnant women with Covid-19 pneumonia seem to be better than those with severe acute respiratory syndrome [Sars] infection,” the authors wrote in the research paper published in The Lancet medical journal on Tuesday.
The study included seven pregnant women infected with Covid-19. The women were all in their third trimester of pregnancy and were admitted to Tongji Hospital in Wuhan between January 1 and February 8.
The paper is among the first to report on the effects of the virus on pregnant women in their third trimester. It found “good outcomes for both mother and infant”.
The mortality rate of the general population infected by Sars was 10 per cent, while that of patients infected with Covid-19 is 1-4 per cent.