The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said that there is no evidence that coronavirus can be transmitted from an infected nursing mother to her child while breastfeeding.
In a statement by WHO on its website, nursing mothers are advised to continue breastfeeding their babies despite the pandemic. Researchers are currently testing breast milk from mothers with a confirmed or suspected case of COVID-19.
The website said: “Transmission of active COVID-19 (virus that can cause infection) through breast milk and breastfeeding has not been detected to date. There is no reason to avoid or stop breastfeeding.”
While also addressing other questions relating to mother-child contact. WHO has said “The numerous benefits of skin-to-skin contact and breastfeeding substantially outweigh the potential risks of transmission and illness associated with COVID-19.”
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump has signed an Executive Order cutting liability protection from social media companies, meaning they can now be held to account for content published on their platforms.
The president signed the executive order on Thursday, few days after a row with Twitter, which had labelled two of his tweets with warning tags encouraging users to fact-check them.
According to Trump, the checks were “editorial decisions” by Twitter amounting to political activism.
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He added that such actions should cost social media companies their liability protection guaranteed under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act because they are treated as “platforms,” rather than “publishers,” which can face lawsuits over content.