A Singaporean woman, who was infected with the novel coronavirus in March when she was pregnant, has given birth to a baby with antibodies against the virus, offering a new clue as to whether the infection can be transferred from mother to child.
“My doctor suspects I have transferred my Covid-19 antibodies to him during my pregnancy,” Celine Ng-Chan told the paper.
Ng-Chan had been mildly ill from the disease and was discharged from hospital after two-and-a-half weeks, The Straits Times said.
But in the article, Ng-Chan said she was aware of another couple who were expecting their first child when they both fell ill with Covid-19 in March. Their baby, who was born on April 26 at the National University Hospital, was possibly the first baby born in Singapore with Covid-19 antibodies, said The Straits Times, adding that it was not known how many babies in Singapore has been born to women who had Covid-19 while they were pregnant.
Ng-Chan and the NUH, where she gave birth, were not immediately available for comment.
To date, the active virus has not been found in samples of fluid around the baby in the womb or in breast milk.
Transmission of the new coronavirus from mothers to newborns is rare, doctors from New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Centre reported in October in JAMA Pediatrics.
