AGARTALA: A 23-year-old coronavirus patient in Tripura has given birth to a baby at a COVID hospital here, and the health condition of both is stable, authorities of the facility said.
The woman, Suchitra Das, a resident of Suryamaninagar village of West Tripura district, had tested positive for COVID-19 four days ago during pregnancy check-up at the Indira Gandhi Memorial (IGM) Hospital here.
She was admitted to the GB Pant Hospital, a dedicated facility for treatment of COVID-19 patients, on July 21, Resident Medical Officer (RMO) Dr Bidhan Goswami said.
"The woman has given birth to a girl here on Thursday. The mother and the child are stable. Swab sample of the baby was collected and sent for coronavirus test. They are in separate wards," state-run GB Pant Hospital superintendent Debasish Roy said.
She is the first coronavirus infected woman to give birth to a baby in the state.
The family members and relatives, who had come in contact with the pregnant woman, were put under home quarantine, he said.
A six-member team led by Dr JL Baidya had taken all precautionary measures before going to the operation theatre, the superintendent of the hospital said.
"We were cautious to make sure that no one of the team gets infected with the virus. We took all care for the patient," Baidya said.
All Tripura Government Doctors' Association (ATGDA) general secretary Dr Rajesh Choudhury congratulated the team of the health professionals for their success.
The state registered its ninth COVID-19 fatality after a 76-year-old woman succumbed to the disease here, while 126 fresh cases pushed the state's tally to 3,469, an official said on Thursday.
The woman, Gitarani Pal, was admitted to the Agartala Government Medical College (AGMC) on July 11 and she died on Wednesday, the official said.
Pal also had diabetes, cardiac problems and high blood pressure, he said.
"Alert! 126 people found COVID-19 positive out of 3,051 samples tested. 120 found positive in Antigen test, Contact:4, Symptomatic:2. Unfortunately, 1 COVID-19 positive patient died today," Deb said in a tweet on Wednesday night.
So far, 2,033 people have recovered from the disease, the official said.
The state now has 1,409 active COVID-19 cases.
Nine patients have died of the infection and 18 have migrated to other states, he said.
Besides state-run hospitals, private health facilities will have to conduct antigen tests for all patients to detect the coronavirus cases early, Health and Family welfare director Dr Radha Debbarma said.
The private hospitals and nursing homes will need to buy antigen test kits at Rs 450 a unit from the National Health Mission office here.
The state Health Department has appointed a medical officer to coordinate with various institutions, he said.