Premature 28-week baby is the latest COVID-19 victim after being delivered by caesarean section on Saturday

July 11, 2021 at 3:48 am
by News Desk
in Foreigners, Living, More News from Thailand, Thailand
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A 28-year-old woman, the mother of the infant, who arrived in Phrae from Pathum Thani on Thursday, survived the operation after doctors had to pierce her throat in a tracheotomy procedure when she developed a severe lung infection.

A premature baby in northern Phrae province became one of the latest and most poignant victims of COVID-19 on Saturday when the child died just seconds after opening its eyes to the world when it was delivered in an emergency operation on the child’s mother by frantic doctors who tried to save its life.

premature-baby-the-latest-COVID-19-victim — Tragic scenes in Phrae on Saturday as volunteer rescue workers in hazmat suits bring the body of the infant to a religious ceremony officiated by a monk before it was cremated. The premature baby succumbed within minutes of being born and just after opening its eyes to the world for the first time. The COVID-19 infection is understood to have seeped into the little infant’s lungs, causing its demise, according to the medical team, who saved the life of the 28-year-old mother.

In a week in which the country has been ravaged by the Delta variant of COVID-19, comes the shocking news that, on Saturday, a premature newborn baby died within seconds of being delivered due to the disease.

The tragedy occurred as doctors performed a caesarean section on a woman who was seriously infected with the virus and who had suffered life-threatening complications.

The infant also disclosed as being infected after being born in an emergency caesarean section operation

Not long after the baby was born, medics diagnosed that the infant was also infected with the virus which they believed had seeped into the child’s lungs.

The mother of the child was a 28-year-old woman who had arrived in the province, in the upper northern region of Thailand, on Thursday last, July 8th.

Mother could not breathe without a tracheotomy procedure which then led the medical team to examine the fetus which had a rapid heartbeat

She was diagnosed with a severe infection of COVID-19 which had caused an infection in her lungs.

The mother’s medical situation was so severe that doctors had to pierce her throat area and perform a Tracheotomy procedure to offer her relief and an opportunity to breathe.

Then the medical team performed an examination of the fetus that the woman was carrying and diagnosed a tachycardia, a fast or highly active heartbeat.

This prompted the doctors to perform an immediate caesarean section on the fetus which was only 28 weeks old or 11 weeks premature.

Woman had a fever, was gasping for breath

The medical team noted that the mother had an acute fever and was gasping for breath. They decided to press ahead with the emergency procedure to deliver the child.

However, when the baby was born it continued to have a dangerously high heartbeat and shortly after it opened its eyes, it succumbed to its condition.

Doctors called in a local rescue unit to remove the corpse of the infant while wearing protective clothing.

The body was sent to the family of the woman for the performance of a religious ritual at a local facility where a monk officiated.

It is understood the body of the infant was later cremated at the conclusion of a ceremony.

The latest update is that the mother of the child is now safe and being treated by her medical team led by Dr Kajon Winaipanich, a public health doctor in Phrae province.