Surgical Neonates with Coronavirus Infectious Disease-19 Infection: An Experience with Five Cases at High-volume Tertiary Care Centre of India

Coronavirus infectious disease-19 (COVID-19) has caused serious threat to global health. With progression of time, more and more cases are being reported in paediatric age group. Management of COVID-19-positive neonates with surgical condition is challenging as apart from medical management of COVID-19-induced morbidities, they also require surgical intervention. Various guidelines have been proposed for the management of neonates with coronavirus infection and surgical pathologies. In this original article, we are sharing our experience in managing such neonates. We managed five neonates with different surgical pathologies who were positive for the coronavirus at the time of admission. They received medical management initially. Three of these five neonates were operated after they were negative for the virus. The remaining two patients were operated in positive state due to their condition requiring urgent surgical intervention. All the recommendations as per the COVID-19 protocol were followed. Four of these babies survived. One neonate with the diagnosis of gastroschisis expired during stay in designated COVID-19 neonatal intensive care unit. Authors conclude that COVID-19-positive status of neonates should not scare the health-care workers. COVID-19 positivity in neonates does not alter the outcome.