Changes in Clinical Care of the Newborn during COVID 19 Pandemic: From the Womb to First Newborn Visit

Doctor, Pezad N.; Kamat, Deepak; Sood, Beena G.

Coronavirus Disease of 2019 (COVID-19) has afflicted the health of women and children across all age groups. Since the outbreak of the pandemic in December 2019, various epidemiological, immunologic, clinical and pharmaceutical studies have been conducted across the world to understand its infectious characteristics, pathogenesis and clinical profile in affected individuals, with the hope of improving outcomes and ultimately leading to the development of vaccinations. COVID-19 has shown to affect pregnant women more seriously than non-pregnant women, endangering the health of the newborn. Various changes in the guidelines have been implemented in antenatal care of pregnant women, their delivery as well as newborn care during the COVID-19 pandemic, with the hope of reducing the risk of viral transmission and, in turn, improve outcomes in pregnant women and children. In this review, we highlight the current trends of clinical care in pregnant women and newborn during COVID 19 pandemic