What Is the Current State of Knowledge About the Novel Coronavirus Infection During Pregnancy?

As being a global public health emergency, the outbreak of novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) was declared as a pandemic on March 11, 2020 by the World Health Organization (WHO). After originating at the end of 2019 and infecting a high number of individuals in China, Europe is now the world’s COVID-19 pandemic epicenter, in which Italy is the country currently most affected. For time being, COVID-19 is a very little-known respiratory disease with respect to its effects not only on the general population but also on the people in specific situations like pregnancy. It is very well-known that pregnant women are susceptible to viral respiratory infections due to physiologic and immunologic changes of pregnancy. Most of the current knowledge about its effect on pregnant women is based upon limited case series, expert opinions and some predictions from previous experiences with other coronaviruses such as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) and Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERSCoV) together with other viral respiratory infections, such as influenza. Although these potentially severe respiratory infections appear to be more prone to develop severe disease in pregnancy,