Early birth may be linked to virus

THE seemingly early birth of Boris Johnson and Carrie Symonds’s child may be linked to coronavirus, experts suggested yesterday.

The couple had previously stated that the birth was expected to be in “early summer” leading to concerns that Ms Symonds had delivered the baby boy prematurely.

Downing Street declined to say whether the baby was pre-term and a spokesman was unable to provide details of the weight, timing, nature or location of the birth.

Ms Symonds suffered the symptoms of coronavirus late into her pregnancy but was not tested. Early research suggests coronavirus may be linked to premature birth in some cases, although it tends to have most impact on women who become severely ill.

Alexander Heazell, Professor of Obstetrics and director of the Tommy’s Research Centre at the University of Manchester, said: “There are mixed data about coronavirus and pre-term birth. A systematic review of Sars-1 and Covid cases thus far suggests the preterm birth rate was roughly double the normal rate.”

A recent data review by King’s College London found that 30 per cent of pregnant women who contract coronavirus give birth prematurely, although most of the data comes from China where public health is very different.

The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists said the link could be due to mothers who are sick being induced early to avoid complications.

“It is unclear whether coronavirus caused these premature births or whether it was recommended that the baby was born early for the benefit of the woman’s health and to enable her to recover,” a spokesman said.

Pre-term birth usually affects between 7 and 10 per cent of babies delivered in Britain.

However, experts said that if the expected delivery date was early June then the baby would only be five weeks early which is a “late pre-term birth” and usually has very good outcomes in the UK.