Novel Corona Virus Disease: A Narrative Review of the Guidelines and Protocol for Obstetric Care in the Context of a Pandemic

Abstract

Emerging diseases such as COVID 19 have put an added strain to the already weak health systems in resource limited countries such as Nigeria. Guidance on how to manage suspected or confirmed COVID 19 cases in pregnancy are evolving and constantly being updated as the infection is better understood. We present a review of the available guidelines in pregnancy. Google scholar and Pub Med were searched for maternal guidelines on women infected with COVID 19. No period limitations were used in the search. Terms imputed into the search engine were 'COVID 19', 'pregnancy'.' Maternal guidelines' and 'pregnant women' In total, 23 articles were detected and analyzed for practical recommendations. Seven were discarded because they did not provide practical guidelines for care. Recommendations were classified into prevention for Antenatal patients, Treatment of the pregnant woman with COVID 19, Management in labor and postpartum periods in women with COVID 19. Many of the recommendations for pregnant women with COVID 19 have limited evidence supporting their implementation and further studies are needed to improve the strength of recommendations for this emerging disease. No consensus or clear evidence exists regarding timing of delivery or route of delivery and patients are best managed on individualized basis.