Coronavirus may not transmit from pregnant moms to babies: Study

Beijing: The novel Coronavirus may not transmit from pregnant mothers to newborn babies at birth, according to a study published on Monday.

The study is the second out of China within the last month to confirm that mothers infected with COVID-19 disease during pregnancy did not pass the virus to their babies, said researchers from Huazhong University of Science and Technology.

The research, published in the journal Frontiers in Pediatrics, was carried out on four women who gave birth at Wuhan's Union Hospital while infected. Wuhan in China's Hubei Province is believed to be the epicentre of the current outbreak that has infected more than 150,000 people worldwide and killed over 6,000. None of the infants developed any serious symptoms associated with COVID-19 such as fever or cough, though all were initially isolated in neonatal intensive care units and fed formula, the researchers said.