In the second case of its kind in Karachi, a woman who was diagnosed with Covid-19 last week gave birth to a healthy baby boy on Saturday, and the baby has initially tested negative for the virus, officials said.

The 35-year-old mother was registered with the hospital at Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS) Ojha campus. She was tested for the virus after she started showing symptoms last week.

After her test returned positive, special arrangements were made for the baby's delivery, according to a DUHS spokesperson.

The baby was born on Saturday through a scheduled caesarian section and weighed 3.1 kilogrammes at birth. The patient's previous two children were also born via C-section, according to the DUHS.

The mother and the baby were both doing well, the hospital administration said, adding that the newborn was immediately shifted to the children's unit of the hospital and his samples were taken to ascertain whether he was infected with the novel coronavirus.

In the evening, "the newborn's initial coronavirus test came back negative," Prof Saeed Khan said, adding that blood samples of the baby had also been taken to test for Covid-19 anti-bodies.

Further diagnostic tests of the baby are being carried out, Khan told Dawn.

The woman's husband and other family members have not been infected with the virus.

In late April, another woman who had recently tested positive for the coronavirus had given birth at the Dr Ruth Pfau Civil Hospital in Karachi. The hospital management had at the time said both the newborn and the mother were in stable condition, according to a news report by The Express Tribune.

In February, Chinese doctors had said pregnant women infected with the new coronavirus may be able to pass it to their unborn children.

Doctors at the Wuhan Children Hospital said the transmission was possible after an infected coronavirus patient gave birth to a baby on February 2. The newborn was given a test 30 hours later and confirmed to have the virus, doctors said at the time.