A couple has named their newborn twins ‘Corona’ and ‘Covid’ after giving birth to them under difficult circumstances created by the ongoing lockdown in the country due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The twins, a boy and a girl, were born on March 27 in Dr BR Ambedkar Memorial Hospital, a government hospital in Raipur, capital of Chhattisgarh, a state in central India.
Although the Indian couple said they may reverse their decision in the future and rename their children, they said they wanted to make the day memorable.
The twin’s mother, Preeti Verma, 27, who spoke to news agency PTI, said: “I was blessed with the twins — a boy and a girl — in the early hours (of) March 27. We have named them Covid (boy) and Corona (girl) for now.”
Speaking further, she said: “The delivery happened after facing several difficulties and therefore, my husband and (I) wanted to make the day memorable. Indeed, the virus is dangerous and life-threatening but its outbreak made people focus on sanitation, hygiene and inculcate other good habits. Thus, we thought about these names.
“When the hospital staff also started calling the babies as Corona and Covid, we finally decided to name them after the pandemic.”
India has reported a total of 2,032 cases and 58 deaths due to the coronavirus pandemic. On March 24, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was forced to announce a 21-day lockdown of the country of 1.3 billion people to stem the spread of the killer virus.
Mr and Mrs Verma who also have a two-year old daughter, had to breach the restriction when Mrs Verma began to feel labour pain in the late night of March 26.
“I suddenly experienced severe labour pain and somehow my husband arranged an ambulance operated under 102 Mahtari Express service,” she further told PTI.
“As no vehicular movement was allowed on roads due to the lockdown, we were stopped by police at various places but they let us go after noticing my condition.
“I was wondering what would happen in the hospital as it was midnight, but fortunately doctors and other staff were very cooperative.
“Our relatives, who wanted to reach the hospital, could not make it as bus and train services were stopped due to the lockdown,” she said.
The babies were delivered in the early hours of March 27, within 45 minutes of the couple’s arrival, Indian Times also quoted Shubhra Singh, a spokesperson of the hospital, to have said.
“As soon as Verma reached the hospital with her husband, arrangements were made to perform a caesarean section on her as it was a complicated case,” Mr Singh was quoted as saying.
