PETALING JAYA: A Singaporean woman who had Covid-19 recently has given birth to a baby born free of the virus.
According to a Sunday Times report, Celine Ng-Chan’s baby — who was born earlier this month — is even believed to have antibodies against the virus.
“It’s very interesting. His paediatrician said my Covid-19 antibodies are gone but Aldrin (her son) has them,” she was quoted as saying in The Sunday Times.
“My doctor suspects I have transferred my Covid-19 antibodies to him during my pregnancy.”
The report stated that Ng-Chan, 31, is one of a few women in the city-state who contracted Covid-19 during their pregnancies to have given birth so far, adding that the son’s antibodies suggested that he has immunity to the virus.
Natasha Ling, a 29-year-old speech and language therapist, who tested positive for Covid-19 in her 36th week of pregnancy in March, is believed to have given birth to the first baby born in Singapore with Covid-19 antibodies on April 26.
Dr Tan Hak Koon, who chairs the obstetrics and gynaecology division at Singapore’s KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital, told The Straits Times that guidelines published by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in the United Kingdom in October said current evidence suggested that transmission of Covid-19 from a pregnant woman to her baby during pregnancy or birth is uncommon.
Tan also said current evidence showed that the chances of a newborn being infected by Covid-19 from his mother did not depend on the mode of delivery, feeding choice (breast or bottle) or if the mother and baby had stayed in the same room after delivery.
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