COVID-19: Sikkim women switch children for better care

Gangtok, Jun 14 () Two women from Sikkim have swapped their children for the time being for their better care after one of them and one of the women tested positive for coronavirus, officials said on Sunday.

The incident occurred after a woman tested negative for COVID-19 but her 27-month-old baby was found afflicted with the disease.

Doctors at the STNM Hospital here placed the youngest corona patient in the state in the care of a woman, who also tested positive for COVID-19 but her six-year-old child did not.

It has been arranged that the 27-month-old baby's mother will look after the corona-negative child of the other woman for the time being, the officials said.

"All the other family members of the six-year-old have tested positive for COVID-19. There was none to look after the child. Then we came to know of the woman whose baby tested positive but she is COVID-free. She was worried about her baby.

"So the two mothers opted to temporarily switch their babies for better care," a paediatrician at the STNM Hospital said.

The 27-month-old baby is now in the isolation ward of the hospital with the corona-positive woman, while the COVID-free child and woman are lodged at the Paljor Namgyal Girls' Senior Secondary School quarantine facility in Gangtok, the officials said.

The children were swapped on Friday morning.

Sikkim has 63 active COVID-19 cases now -- all returnees from other states. CORR NN RC