On Wednesday, UNICEF said an estimated 116 million babies will be born across the world under the shadow of COVID-19 pandemic.
New Delhi| The highest number of births in the 9 months since COVID-19 was declared a pandemic in March is expected to be in India, with more than 20 million babies anticipated to be born in the country between March and December, as per UNICEF.
Pregnant mothers and babies born during the COVID-19 pandemic globally were threatened by constrained health systems and disruptions in services, the United Nations Childrenās Fund (UNICEF) warned.
On Wednesday, ahead of Motherās Day, observed on May 10, UNICEF said an estimated 116 million babies will be born across the world under the shadow of COVID-19 pandemic.
These infants are predicted to be born up to 40 weeks after COVID-19 was acknowledged as a pandemic on March 11.
India is expected to have the highest numbers of births in the 9 months since the pandemic was declared, where 20.1 million babies are projected to be born between March 11 and December 16.
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China (13.5 million), Nigeria (6.4 million), Pakistan (5 million) and Indonesia (4 million) are the other countries with the expected highest numbers of births during this period.
the United Nations Childrenās Fund said that Most of these countries had high neonatal mortality rates even before the pandemic and may see these levels increase with COVID-19 conditions.
UNICEF said even before COVID-19 pandemic, an estimated 2.8 million pregnant women and newborns died every year, or 1 every 11 seconds, mostly of preventable causes.
(Inputs from PTI)
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