UN expects 110 mn children to be born amidst the pandemic

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has said that 116 million babies are expected to be born worldwide during the Novel Coronavirus Pandemic.

In a report released on International Mother’s Day (which is being celebrated on May 10), the World Health Organization said that in the next 40 weeks (or 9 months) 116 million babies will be born after the March 11 when the COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic in various countries.

Mothers and newborns will face problems, due to the lockdowns and also medical centers are already facing a shortage of medical equipment and maternity support staff.

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The World Health Organization warns that measures to prevent COVID-19 could affect life-saving services such as childbirth, putting millions of pregnant women and their babies at risk.

India tops the list of countries with the highest number of births in the next nine months with 21 million, followed by China 13.5 million, Nigeria 6.4 million, Pakistan 5 million and in Indonesia expects 4 million babies to be born.

The United States was sixth on the list where 3.3 million babies were expected to be born between March 11 and December 16, according to the New York Administration.

Although it has not yet been established that the mother can transmit the coronavirus to her baby during pregnancy, the World Health Organization has advised all pregnant women to take all precautionary measures to protect themselves from the deadly virus.

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