France reports first known case of baby contracting COVID-19 in womb

France : Doctors in France have reported the first confirmed case of an unborn child contracting coronavirus from their mother while still in the womb.

The study, published in the journal Nature Communications, described a case in France where the COVID-19-causing virus was found in the blood of a baby born prematurely to a 23-year-old mother who was diagnosed with the pandemic disease in March.

"Among the many thousands of babies born to mothers with SARS-CoV-2 infection, a very few have been reported to also have a positive test – around 1-2%," she said. "It is still unclear whether the virus passes across the placenta; this report provides evidence that it may."

The baby tested positive for the virus. He later recovered and was discharged from hospital 18 days later, the doctors wrote in the papers.

The doctors said there have been similar cases of babies being born with the coronavirus, but, until now, they had not been able to say definitively whether babies could contract the virus in utero.

A small study done on 31 women in Italy in March and April had found some evidence showing that unborn babies could catch the virus from their mothers.

(With inputs from Agency)