Ever since the beginning of this global pandemic, doctors, nurses, other medical personnel and frontline workers put themselves in harm’s way—literally—to care for those who have been infected, and keep the rest of us safe. Pregnant Nurse Dies Due To COVID-19
Despite the heightened risk—being pregnant and being in the frontline—Nurse Mary Agyeiwaa Agyapong, 28, decided to make the tough call and continue tending to patients at the general ward at Luton and Dunstable University Hospital, to the north of London.
Pregnant Nurse Dies Of COVID-19: Mary Agyeiwaa Agyapong, 28, was pregnant while working at a general ward of the hospital she works for during the COVID-19 pandemic. | Image source: GoFundMe
On 5 April, she tested positive for COVID-19 was admitted to the hospital she worked at two days later. She died due to complication from the virus infection the Sunday after (12 April).
Pregnant Nurse Dies Of COVID-19, Baby Survives
According to the British hospital, Agyapong’s baby, a girl, was delivered successfully via caesarian section and is doing well. It was not clear, however, if the baby had tested positive for the disease.
A GoFundMe page set up to support Agyapong’s husband and baby. It also said the baby will be named after her mum.
“Mary was a blessing to everyone she came across and her love, care and sincerity will be irreplaceable,” the organisers of the fundraiser page wrote.
At the time of posting, over 5,000 people have donated to the cause, raising over £103,000 (S$183,000).
The announcement of Agyapong’s death comes amid ongoing concerns over the lack of protective equipment provided for frontline healthcare staff around the world during this global pandemic.
Cases from the public healthcare sector in Singapore
A medical personnel at the National Centre for Infectious Diseases. | Image source: Tan Tock Seng Hospital/Facebook
In Singapore, as of Wednesday (15 April) noon, a total of 3,699 cases have been reported. Despite this, only a handful are from the public healthcare sector.
The Ministry of Health’s director of communicable diseases Vernon Lee, as reported by the South China Morning Post, health care professionals who contracted the virus are thought to have been infected outside the health care setting.