A woman confirmed infected with COVID-19 successfully gave birth to triplets in Southwest China’s Yunnan Province on Wednesday morning, the first case of its kind in China.
The 29-year-old mother surnamed Zi from Wanding town in Ruili city who naturally conceived fraternal triplets was diagnosed with COVID-19 when she was already 28 weeks pregnant.
The first round of nucleic acid tests given to the male triplets of their amniotic fluid, throat swab and gastric juice all showed negative results.
After the woman was hospitalized at the city’s traditional Chinese medicine and Dai medicine hospital designated for COVID-19 on July 9, the Yunnan workforce of the Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism of the State Council immediately arranged joint consultation by national and provincial experts, and 32 experts of obstetrics, pediatrics and respiratory departments were dispatched to the hospital to form a joint diagnosis and treatment specialized group to prevent her premature delivery and promote the healthy growth and development of the babies.
“Based on previous treatment experiences, the conditions of COVID-19-infected women in late pregnancy could become complicated. Plus, the patient contracted the Delta variant. It was urgent to ensure the pregnant woman and her newborn babies received timely, accurate and effective medical treatment,” Bai Song, deputy director of the Health Commission of Yunnan Province told media.
Although Zi’s condition became severe on July 12, the careful treatment given by the specialized medical group alleviated her suffering from a fever and threatened premature labor, and her COVID-19 infection also became average. The doctors also prolonged her babies’ gestation period to 32 weeks.
Zi suffered from severe cholestasis on Wednesday morning and went through C-section at the isolated operating room with all doctors in protective garments and full-face respirators.
Zi successfully gave birth to three male triplets, and they were swiftly transferred to neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at the hospital. A series of examinations on the infants showed that they were all in a stable condition.
According to Chen Zhuo, deputy director of the obstetrics department of the First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, considering that the doctors came from different hospitals, the specialized group organized several drills of asphyxia resuscitation, transshipment, and NICU treatment for newborn babies.
According to Duan Jiang, director of the pediatrics department of the First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, although the triplets were born prematurely, they are currently in good conditions and need more observation to find whether they have preterm birth complications.
Screenshot from Sina Weibo
