In 80 days, 135 healthy babies without symptoms born at Covid hospital in Pune

Dr Mahesh Asalkardar, Associate Professor, Covid In-charge, Department of Obstetrics, said out of the nine pregnant women, who had tested positive, three were still undergoing treatment, and were five to seven months’ pregnant. “Of the nine, four underwent Caeserean operation. The condition of two had turned critical. While one had high blood pressure, the other had developed complications. Our team managed to save their lives. Both gave birth to healthy babies,” he said.

Dr Asalkardar said 130 pregnant women, who tested negative, gave birth to 131 healthy babies. “One of them gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl. The woman was planning to return to her village in Muzzafarnagar (UP). But she was stranded in Pimpri-Chinchwad after a lockdown was enforced,” he said.

He also said they had not tested any of the 131 babies delivered by the pregnant women, who tested negative. “We did test babies of the women who tested negative. This is according to central government guidelines. Besides, these babies had no symptoms like fever or cough. Only babies of positive patients were tested, and their reports were negative,” he said, adding that the patients received personal protective equipment suits.

The team of doctors who handled the pregnancies included Dr Hemraj Narkhade, Dr Anand Karle, Dr Smita Thakkarwad and others.

Salons, beauty parlours shut

Even as Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday said the state had started a mission to open up, the PCMC decided to shut down salons and beauty parlours.

“The latest guidelines issued by the state government say salons, spas and beauty parlours will remain prohibited across the state. And, therefore, we have decided to shut them down,” said Additional Municipal Commissioner Santosh Patil.

Patil said they had opened salons and beauty parlours a few days ago as the state government had put Pimpri-Chinchwad in the “non-red zone”. “As a result, we had reopened all non-essential shops. Salons and beauty parlours, which were licensed and operated from authorised buildings, were allowed to open from 9 am to 5 pm. We had framed strict guidelines for their operations. However, in its latest directives, the state government has announced that salons and beauty parlours will remain closed. At the same time, the guidelines state that restrictions will be eased in a phased manner. We will wait for restrictions to be eased,” he said.