Treatment
Early identification and isolation are imperative for COVID‐19 control. Those diagnosed with infection should be promptly admitted to a negative pressure isolation ward. For patients with severe acute respiratory distress syndrome, inhaled nitric oxide, high frequency oscillatory ventilation and extracorporeal membrane lung may be useful. In addition, the convalescent serum of SARS-CoV-2 recovered patients may be used for SARS-CoV-2 infection, because the mortality of SARS convalescent patients after treatment is significantly reduced8.
In China, antiviral therapy has been routinely used for the treatment of COVID-19 and is also recommended for pregnant patients. The combination of lopinavir/ ritonavir and Antiproteinase therapy is the first choice. and α-interferon is inhaled by atomization. In addition, Remdesivir and chloroquine are promising anti-COVID-19 drugs as they can inhibit SARS-CoV-2 virus in vitro9. Antibiotics should be used if there is evidence of secondary bacterial infection and corticosteroids are generally not recommended for the treatment of COVID-19, as it may delay the removal of virus.
Because COVID-19 might increase the risk for pregnancy complications, management should be in a medical institution with close maternal and infant monitoring. Data on COVID-19 and SARS in pregnancy are sparse. In the two reports describing 18 cases of pregnancy with COVID-19, all of them were infected in the third trimester, and clinical manifestations were similar to those of non-pregnant adults. In the case of SARS, the mortality rate of the largest 12 pregnancies was 25%. Complications included ARDS in four, DIC in three, renal failure in three, bacterial pneumonia in two and sepsis in two cases.