Abstract:
Introduction: COVID-19 infection is a novel viral illness which began as a local epidemic in December 2019 at Wuhan, China which quickly emerged into a pandemic by February 2020. The virus causes a spectrum of signs and symptoms, ranging from mild upper respiratory symptoms to acute respiratory distress syndrome which may lead to death. Among children and neonates, those afflicted with the disease may present asymptomatically or with mild symptoms. To date, there has been limited local data that describes the outcomes of the growing number of COVID-19 cases, specifically in neonates.
Methods: A retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted to determine the outcomes of neonates born to COVID-19 Positive Mothers from March 2020 until June 2022. The prevalence of COVID-19 among these neonates were also determined.
Results: COVID positive prevalence after 24 hours of life is at 8% while prevalence after 48 hours among those who still underwent testing was at 13.51%. Moreover, among those COVID-19 negative neonates who had symptoms, they mostly presented with tachypnea (5.7%). Prevalence of complications among COVID-19 negative neonates delivered to COVID-19 positive mothers is 22.7%.
Conclusion: Neonates born to COVID-19 positive mothers who yielded positive COVID-19 results are generally asymptomatic. Moreover, there are no associated mortalities among those who yielded positive results
