Woman on Covid death bed gives birth to boy as virus wipes out family

 Svetlana Sorochinskaya died after giving birth [Photo: social media]

A baby born to a mother on a ventilator is the sole survivor of a family wiped out by Covid-19. The boy’s mother gave birth to him as she lay on her death bed attached to a ventilator in St Petersburg, Russia. Svetlana Sorochinskaya, 36, is believed to have caught coronavirus while visiting her father Kirey Pinchin, 64, in the hospital where he had undergone heart surgery.

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He died from Covid-19 on 5 November, eight days after he was discharged from hospital. At the time of his death, Svetlana posted: "My daddy ... you were the best, kindest man in this world. I will love you forever. You didn't have enough time to see your grandson.”

A short while later Svetlana went to a maternity hospital to give birth, but when her Covid-19 was confirmed she was sent to a leading infectious diseases hospital. Three days after the dental clinic administrator was admitted she gave birth six weeks prematurely to her son while attached to a ventilator. The child was named Kirey, after her late father. Hours after giving birth Svetlana died. Before the new mum lost her life her mother Vera had also become seriously ill.

When she arrived at the hospital for treatment on 2 November there were no available beds, according to Svetlana’s cousin Larisa Kachkaeva. “She was told ‘lie on the floor in the corridor’,” the cousin said. Ten days after she went to hospital Vera, 62, died. The three deaths have triggered a custody battle over baby Kirey. Divorcee Svetlana had refused to name the father of her long-awaited child.

The baby - being cared for in hospital -  is now the sole heir to her valuable estate in St Petersburg, which includes two apartments. A man identified only as M has claimed he is the boy’s father and will undergo a DNA test. Larisa has also offered to adopt and raise the child. The cousin claims that before she died Svetlana had denied that M was the father, saying only that he was a colleague.

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She told Fontanka news outlet: “Svetlana had said that he was not the father of the child. “We await the result of the DNA analysis and the court will decide.” Today Russa reported 26,338 new Covid-19 cases including 6,511 in Moscow and 3,691 in St Petersburg, taking the national total to 2,295,654 cases since the pandemic began.