Photo/Illutration A doctor delivers a baby from an infected woman who underwent a caesarean section at the Japanese Red Cross Nagoya Daini Hospital in Nagoya on Jan. 27 during the sixth wave. (Provided by the Japanese Red Cross Nagoya Daini Hospital)

Many hospitals are having pregnant women infected with COVID-19 deliver via a caesarean section to secure hospital beds and prevent infections to medical staff.

“We are just barely holding on,” said Noriko Kato, head of the obstetrics and gynecology department at the Japanese Red Cross Nagoya Daini Hospital in Nagoya. “We have to secure operating rooms and beds for newborns moment to moment and accept more and more pregnant women as they come pouring in.”

Most hospitals opt for a C-section delivery for infected women because it takes less time to deliver and the infection risk to medical staff is reduced, the health ministry said.

Hospital beds set aside for infected pregnant women have been constantly filled since July during the latest novel coronavirus wave at the Nagoya Daini Hospital.

The hospital accepted approximately 20 women in one month. It said many of them reported severe symptoms such as a high fever and breathing difficulties.

The hospital continues working to shorten the length of hospital stays for such women to keep beds available. It has infected women in their final month of pregnancy deliver through C-section the day they are admitted or the day after.

Pregnant women who have complications or other high risks are usually asked to be admitted to a hospital ahead of time, but they are now being asked to stay at home until just before their delivery. 

Doctors and medical staff wear protective clothing when infected women give birth.

Five beds set aside for infected pregnant women have been filled since late July at Nihon University Itabashi Hospital in Tokyo.

Although the Tokyo metropolitan government has asked the hospital to accept pregnant patients who are transported there daily, it has been unable to meet all the requests.

“I have heard that all nearby hospitals are no longer accepting the women,” said Kei Kawana, head of the obstetrics and gynecology department at Nihon University Itabashi Hospital. “I’m concerned some pregnant women about to give birth might not be able to find a place where they can deliver.”

Around 1,633,000 babies were born from April 2020 to March 2022 during the pandemic, according to the latest demographic statistics released by the health ministry.

The risk of miscarriage or stillbirth does not increase should a pregnant woman contract the virus.

Those infected late in their pregnancy, however, are at increased risk of a premature birth, according to reports at home and abroad.

A survey compiled by the Japan Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology showed that around 60 percent of those infected in the last month of pregnancy delivered via C-section by the time of the sixth wave.

Meanwhile, around 20 percent of uninfected women have a C-section delivery, according to data from the health ministry.

Some hospitals are reviewing birthing methods to secure more hospital beds. 

At times, as many as 10 percent of the medical staff are unable to come to work at Chiba University Hospital in Chiba due to infections or close contact with infected people.

Therefore, the hospital changed its method from C-section delivery to vaginal delivery in July for women who had experienced deliveries.

Vaginal delivery allows for faster recovery for the mothers. If no major problems are found, mothers are discharged from the hospital the day after their delivery.

“There aren’t any empty hospital beds, so the only way to accept infected pregnant women who are transported here is to continue doing this to keep the beds open,” said Akiko Omoto, a doctor at Chiba University Hospital. 

“The number (of infected pregnant women) has gone up about twofold compared to the peak of the sixth wave.” she said. “That’s my impression.”

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