Covid-19 and pregnancy - evolving a plan Ray Rashmi1, Yadav Bindoo2,*, Das Banashree2 1Assistant Professor, Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, SGT Medical College, Hospital and Research Institute, Budhera, Gurugram, Haryana, India 2Professor, Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, SGT Medical College, Hospital and Research Institute, Budhera, Gurugram, Haryana, India *Corresponding author email id: abvy90@yahoo.co.in
Online published on 26 October, 2020. Abstract The novel Corona virus has shaken up the world from its somnolence. COVID-19 is a contagious disease caused by the new corona virus. Understanding about this disease is evolving but still there are many questions left to be answered. Many people have lost their lives due to this disease. More and more people are being tested as positive and some of them are pregnant woman. The health care providers have to be prepared to handle both the infected and the non-infected COVID-19 pregnant woman during pregnancy as well as in labor. Currently available data suggests that healthy pregnant women are neither more susceptible to COVID-19 nor is the course of the disease more severe. If the woman has coexisting medical disorders like heart disease, diabetes or is on immunosuppressive drugs then she may develop a severe form of disease and needs to be “shielded”, hence it is recommended that the uninfected pregnant woman should come for minimum visit to the hospital for the antenatal check-up. In case a COVID-19 positive or suspected patient comes in labor without prior information she should be admitted to the isolation ward and attended by health personnel using PPE kit. The infected COVID-19 patients can deliver vaginally if there are no obstetric indications for caesarian section and her general condition is stable. If she desires the mother may breast feed her newborn after hand washing and wearing a mask so as to prevent transmission to her newborn. In this article the information from the various currently available guidelines concerning antenatal and intranatal care at the time of this pandemic is collated. The aim is to help healthcare workers ensure continuum of services keeping in mind the available logistics and the need for preventing further transmission of the disease. Top Keywords COVID-19, Labor, Pregnancy, Preterm birth, Shielding, Vertical transmission. Top |