TOKYO: A woman in Japan who developed pneumonia after being infected with the novel coronavirus has given birth, hospital staff said.

The mother is believed to be the first woman in the country to have delivered a baby after being infected with the virus, according to Kitasato University Hospital in Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo.

The woman and the baby, who has tested negative for the virus several times, left the hospital recently.

Her infection was confirmed immediately before her labor. She delivered the baby by caesarean section earlier this month when she was on 38 weeks pregnant. Medical workers clad in protective suits helped with the birth.

The mother left the hospital after testing negative for the virus twice following treatment.

Nobuya Unno, head of the hospital's perinatal medical center, said pregnant women are not seen carrying a particularly high risk of exhibiting serious symptoms caused by the virus. It is rare for a fetus to be infected with the virus, Unno added.

"Pregnant women don't have to be worried about the virus so much, but they should take care not to get infected," Unno said.

JIJI Press