Plight of women with COVID19 giving birth in Peru

Before she gave birth in Peru's largest maternity hospital, María Alvarez closed her eyes and made one request through her face mask.

"Where's my husband,'' she said. "I need him. I need him."

But the baby's father, Marco Martínez, had died a month before, from the novel coronavirus.

Alvarez, who had an asymptomatic case of the virus, gave birth to her first child, a daughter, in a special ward for mothers with COVID-19.

Peru's National Perinatal and Maternal Institute has dedicated about half its facilities to care for infected pregnant women.

Between April and the start of August, more than 2,000 infected patients gave birth there, with 120 newborns testing positive.

One in four people in Peru's capital of 10 million people could be infected with the coronavirus, according to a study published by health authorities in July, with more than 483,000 confirmed infected across the country of 32 million and more than 21,000 dead.

Despite wearing personal protective equipment and taking other measures to avoid infection, 400 of the 2,000 workers in the institute have also been infected, said its director, Enrique Guevara.

The institute has barred partners or other relatives from attending births, and pregnant women are moved through the hospital in wheeled beds protected by transparent covers in efforts to stop the virus from spreading.

Martínez returned to Peru in November after five years working in an electronics store in Chile.

Alvarez became pregnant, and after the coronavirus hit Peru, both went to work for a friend sewing face masks.

Martínez became ill and died in June. Alvarez tested positive for COVID-19, but never experienced any symptoms.

She felt contractions on July 29, and rushed to the hospital with a set of blue clothing for the boy that doctors had said was coming.

To her surprise, she gave birth to a girl.

After giving birth, as the 24-year-old recovered in her room in isolation, she said she had still not decided what to name her daughter.

Although mourning for her late husband, Alvarez said she had to keep fighting on.

"For now, I have another reason (to live and fight), one reason for my daughter and for myself."