The Ministry of Health recommended testing all newborns for coronavirus

The Russian Ministry of Health considers it necessary to test all newborns for coronavirus immediately after birth. This is stated in the department's methodological recommendations.

A diagnosis of COVID-19 in a newborn is confirmed if respiratory, blood, or stool specimens are positive for SARS-CoV-2 virus nucleic acid.

According to the Ministry of Health, it is still unknown whether a woman with COVID-19 can transmit the virus to her child during pregnancy or childbirth. To date, the virus has not been detected in amniotic fluid or placenta samples, but there are isolated reports of infection in breast milk.

The recommendations note that the most likely route of infection of a newborn child is postnatal . This is the basis for isolating children from the moment of birth until the mother recovers.

The department called contradictory data that pregnant women are more susceptible to coronavirus infection due to changes in the body (primarily in the respiratory and immune systems). Publications by scientists from China, Italy and the USA suggest that in pregnant women the disease progresses in the same way as in other adults.

But a systematic review of 108 cases of pregnant women with COVID-19 suggests there may be an increased risk of severe illness. In addition, pregnant women may suddenly become critically ill during a stable course of the disease.

The main signs of coronavirus in pregnant women are fever, cough, fatigue, diarrhea, shortness of breath, sore throat and myalgia .