Vertical Transmission of COVID-19: A Case Report

Amrita Chaurasia, Shakti Jain, Yashi Srivastava, Samiksha Kumari

Abstract: Pregnant women are a population susceptible to COVID-19 and are more likely to have complications and even progress to severe illness. As of now, very little is known about the effects of COVID-19 infection on the fetus. Till date, though there is no concrete evidence of in utero transmission of SARS-CoV-2 to the baby, yet it’s not denied. Here we report a case of supposedly vertical transmission leading to neonatal COVID-19 infection testing positive in nasopharyngeal swab real-time reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction assay at 40th hour after birth in spite of all due intra and post-partum precautions taken, as outlined by ICMR to avoid post-delivery exposure of the neonate from the infected mother.

Keywords: COVID 19, Vertical transmission, Transplacental transmission, Neonate, Coronavirus, pregnancy