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Updated: Oct 28, 2025
Remote Laboratory Management: Respiratory Virus Diagnostics
Published on: April 6, 2019
Delivery management of suspected or confirmed COVID-19 positive mothers
Chih Lin1, Shih-Ming Chu2, Jen-Fu Hsu2
1Division of Neonatology, Department of Pediatrics, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Keelung, Taiwan; Division of Neonatology, Department of Pediatrics, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan, Taiwan; Chang Gung University College of Medicine, Taoyuan, Taiwan.
Insights
Special precautions are vital for COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease-2019) delivery management to protect newborns and staff. Neonatal outcomes for COVID-19 are generally favorable, with most infants recovering within two weeks.
Area of Science:
- Obstetrics and Neonatology
- Infectious Diseases
- Public Health
Background:
- The COVID-19 pandemic necessitates stringent safety measures during childbirth.
- Protecting neonates and healthcare workers requires specific protocols for delivery and postpartum care.
Purpose of the Study:
- To provide comprehensive guidance on managing deliveries for mothers with suspected or confirmed COVID-19.
- To outline best practices for neonatal care, including delivery room management, testing, and feeding.
Main Methods:
- Review of current literature and expert recommendations.
- Discussion of delivery decisions, personal protective equipment (PPE) use, and neonatal resuscitation.
- Elaboration on transport, isolation, skin-to-skin contact, and feeding strategies.
Main Results:
- Delivery decisions should be collaborative, involving obstetricians and neonatologists.
- Negative pressure delivery rooms and appropriate PPE are crucial.
- Newborns with COVID-19 often exhibit sepsis-like symptoms and may require respiratory support, but short-term prognoses are favorable.
Conclusions:
- Adherence to recommended protocols ensures the safety of newborns and healthcare personnel.
- Most neonates infected with COVID-19 recover well within a short period.
- Continued research and experience sharing are important for refining care strategies.
Abstract:
The Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has brought catastrophic impact on the world since the beginning of December 2019. Extra precautionary measures against COVID-19 during and after delivery are pivotal to ensure the safety of the baby and health care workers. Based on current literature, it is recommended that delivery decisions be discussed between obstetricians and neonatologists prior to delivery, and designated negative pressure delivery rooms should be arranged for COVID person under investigation (PUI). During delivery, a minimal number of experienced staff attending delivery should don personal protective equipment (PPE) and follow the neonatal resuscitation program (NRP). Positive pressure ventilation is best used in a negative pressure room if available. At-risk babies should be transported in an isolette, and tested for COVID-19 in a negative pressure room soon after bathing. Skin-to-skin contact and breast milk feed should continue under certain circumstances. Although newborns with COVID-19 infections often present with symptoms that mimic sepsis and one third of affected patients may demand some form of respiratory support, short-term prognoses are favorable and most recover within two weeks of symptoms onset. In this article, we will further elaborate on topics covering timing and mode of delivery, antenatal steroid, vertical transmission, delivery room management, airway management, transport, testing and isolation after birth, skin-to-skin contact, breast milk feeding, clinical features, outcomes, and discharge plans. In addition, we also share our experiences of encountering neonates born of suspected COVID-19 positive mothers.
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