A Singaporean woman who contracted the coronavirus in March while pregnant gave birth to a baby with coronavirus antibodies last month.

“The pediatrician said my coronavirus antibodies are gone but [the baby] has coronavirus antibodies,” Celine Ng-Chan told The Straits Times. “My doctor suspects I transferred my COVID-19 antibodies to him during my pregnancy.”

The baby tested negative for the coronavirus but positive for antibodies against the virus.

Ng-Chan was only mildly ill after contracting the coronavirus during her pregnancy and was released from the hospital after two and a half weeks.

Doctors in Singapore are conducting an ongoing study on the effects of the coronavirus on pregnancy and childbirth.

The study is a part of international efforts to shed light on various aspects of women contracting the coronavirus while pregnant, including the effect of COVID-19 on pregnant women, whether the virus can be transmitted during pregnancy and how babies develop antibodies in the womb.

“It is still unknown whether the presence of these antibodies in a newborn baby confers a degree of protection against COVID-19 infection, much less the duration of protection,” said Tan Hak Koon, chairman of the Obstetrics and Gynaecology division at KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)