Covid-19 infected expat Bangladeshi's wife gives birth to a baby boy

The wife of a Bangladeshi construction worker, who was infected with the coronaviru in Singapore, has given birth to a baby boy in Bangladesh, the Migrant Workers' Centre (MWC) said on March 31.  

The Bangladeshi, also known as Singapore's Case 42, does not know about his newborn baby yet, The Straits Times reported. 

The baby arrived on March 30 afternoon, said the MWC, adding that both mother and child are healthy and fine.

The 39-year-old man continues to be sedated and in critical condition since he was first admitted nearly two months ago in February. 

He remains in an intensive care ward because of complications brought on by Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.

The worker was cleared of the disease and transferred out of the National Centre for Infectious Disease a few days ago, MWC said in a Facebook post on March 31.

The Bangladesh High Commission had earlier said that the worker suffered from respiratory and kidney problems, and pneumonia before he was infected with the virus.

The MWC said in the post: "His condition remains critical, but we are encouraged by this latest development and continue to ask for everyone's prayers for him."

It also said that the wife got to see her husband via a video call a day before giving birth, so she could "seek strength from seeing her beloved before the delivery".

In a separate Facebook post on Tuesday, Dipa Swaminathan, who is the founder of social enterprise for migrant workers. ItsRainingRaincoats, also posted a photo of Case 42's newborn baby boy.

She has been in daily contact with his wife, who lives in central Bangladesh, and had earlier this month organised a donation drive for the couple, collecting items such as new clothes, diapers and milk bottles for them.

She said the mother and baby were doing well after the cesarean section birth and that the mother had given her permission to post the photo and ask for prayers for the baby.

"Please join us to seek blessings for this little boy and pray that he meets his father soon happy and healthy," she wrote.

In an interview with The Straits Times last month, the wife, who declined to be identified, said she had last seen her husband in June last year.

They have been married for two years and the baby is their first child.

Her husband, who has been working in Singapore for close to a decade, was the first of five Bangladeshi work-pass holders linked to a cluster of infections in a Seletar work site. The four other workers have been discharged.

A spokesman for the worker's employer Yi-Ke Innovations on March 31 said it was planning to donate an additional S$1,800 to the family to help with expenses.

Last month, the company, along with the MWC and Mini-Environment Services, which operates the dormitory where he stayed, sent a $10,000 donation via telegraphic bank transfer to the family in Bangladesh.