Sure, there have been jokes about the high number of babies that will be born after the coronavirus crisis ends. (We're all doing something while following stay at home orders.) But a couple from Chhattisgarh, India, recently took inspiration from the pandemic when they named their newborn twins Covid and Corona. Yes, really.
The twins were born during India's 21-day national lockdown.
Twenty-seven-year-old Preeti Verma went into labor on March 26 and gave birth to her boy-girl twins at Dr. BR Ambedkar Memorial Hospital in the early morning hours of March 27, NDTV reported. It was only days after India Prime Minister Narendra Modi ordered all 1.3 billion citizens in the country to stay inside their homes starting March 25, Time stated.
"The delivery happened after facing several difficulties, and therefore, my husband and I wanted to make the day memorable," Verma told NDTV.
The journey to the hospital was arduous.
Late at night on March 26, Verma said, when she suddenly experienced severe labor pain "somehow my husband arranged an ambulance [to] operate under 102 Mahtari Express service."
At the time, no cars were allowed on roads because of the lockdown, and Verma and her husband were stopped by police at various points along their drive.
"But they let us go after noticing my condition," she explained.
None of their relatives could travel to be with them.
The lockdown also caused all bus and train service to be stopped. "Our relatives, who wanted to reach the hospital, could not make it," she said.
When the couple made it to the hospital, her doctors immediately made arrangements for Verma to have a C-section, given the reported complications of the case.
Luckily, the twins' birth went smoothly.
"Within 45 minutes of their arrival, the delivery was done successfully," a public relations officer for the hospital noted.
Then medical staff gave the twins their soon-to-be EPIC nicknames.
The doctors and nurses who helped Verma through her delivery were the ones who gave the twins the names Covid and Corona.
"When the hospital staff also started calling the babies as Corona and Covid, we finally decided to name them after the pandemic," Verma said. "We have named them Covid [her son] and Corona [her daughter] for now."
Verma said there is a chance they may change their twins' names in the future.
For now, the names have more of a positive connotation to the parents than one might assume.
"Indeed the virus is dangerous and life-threatening, but its outbreak made people focus on sanitation, hygiene and inculcate other good habits," she added. "Thus, we thought about these names."
Of course, the more negative connotations associated with the names are more obvious.
Although India hasn't had as many coronavirus-related deaths as the United States (about 8,910 total in the US as of Monday, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, compared to 62 in India as of Friday, CNN reported), they are on the verge of a large-scale community transmission.
That's why government officials are hoping that by taking drastic action — such as the 21-day lockdown — the country will pinpoint virus hotspots and direct resources to the places that need them the most.
As for Verma, she's probably the first of many to mark the historical event the world is living through with special baby names.
