Mother infected with coronavirus in China gives birth to a healthy baby

A 33-year-old Chinese woman infected with the deadly coronavirus pneumonia has given birth to a healthy baby girl with no infection in northwest China's Shaanxi Province, state media reported on Tuesday.

The Chinese woman was at the 37th week of gestation when she gave birth via caesarean to a baby with a weight of 2,730 grams at the Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University in Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi on Monday, Xinhua news agency reported.

The infant, whose first nucleic acid test associated with the novel coronavirus was negative, is receiving intensive care and will be tested again in the next few days to confirm the absence of the virus, according to the provincial centre for disease control and prevention.

The woman and the infant have been transferred to the fever ward and neonatal isolation ward, respectively, for follow-up care and treatment. Both of them are currently in a stable condition, Liu Ming, director of the medical administration department of the hospital said.

On February 7, the woman was transferred from the central hospital of the city of Shangluo to the designated hospital where a workgroup consisting of medical experts came up with a series of treatment plans and made preparations to ensure the safety of the patient and her baby, according to Liu.

Two obstetricians, two anesthesiologists, a midwife, three neonatologists and two nurses participated in the cesarean section.

On Wednesday, a 30-hour-old infant born in a Wuhan hospital became the youngest person to catch the virus.

CCTV reported the infected baby may be a case of "vertical transmission," referring to infections passed from mother to child during pregnancy, childbirth or right after.

On February 3, the news agency reported that a baby born in January to an infected mother had tested negative.

The disease is believed to have emerged in December in a Wuhan market that sold wild animals, and spread rapidly.

The death toll in China's novel coronavirus outbreak has gone up to 1,016 with 108 new fatalities reported mostly in the worst-affected Hubei province while the confirmed cases of infection have soared to 42,638, Chinese health officials said on Tuesday.

Outside China, there have been more than 350 infections reported in almost 30 places with two deaths, one in the Philippines and the other in Hong Kong.