Abstract:
Despite many advances in medicine we are still faced with emerging pathogens.
Pregnant women have been disproportionately affected by previous coronavirus
outbreaks. The COVID-19 pandemic has not affected pregnant women as greatly as
SARS-CoV and MERS, but has posed other challenges such as the need for quarantine
and isolation, limited access to antenatal care, use of personal protective equipment
(PPE), vaccine hesitancy and inequities in vaccine access and therapeutics between
rich countries and the global south. This review will describe the impact of the significant
coronaviruses on pregnancy, with special focus on the challenges being encountered by
the SARS-CoV-2 global pandemic.