Amid the gloom and fear that the Coronavirus pandemic has created globally,  a few happy moments are also being witnessed as well sometimes giving hope and something to cheer about . A woman in New York has met for the first time the baby she gave birth to in early April while she was on a ventilator in an artificial coma because she had a serious form of COVID-19.

36-year-old Yanira Soriano, was intubated for 11 days in an intensive care unit before recovering “miraculously” to welcome her fourth child, her doctor told news agency AFP.

“We really did not know if she was going to survive at all,” said Benjamin Schwartz, head of obstetrics and gynecology at Southside Hospital in Bay Shore. “Most patients on a ventilator don’t survive.”

But she finally turned a corner and was released from hospital in a wheelchair to the applause of dozens of health care workers on Wednesday. Her husband, who wore a mask like everyone else there, gently handed her their baby boy, Walter.

Soriano was eight months pregnant when she was tested coronavirus positive. Her husband who had a less serious case was able to remain at home, around the same time.

She was hospitalized and placed on oxygen but her condition quickly deteriorated. Doctors were afraid that a lack of oxygen might put the baby in danger, and also that her large belly due to pregnancy too might exert pressure preventing her lungs from functioning well.

The doctors were only able to tell her they wanted to perform an emergency cesarean section before she was placed in an artificial coma. While, Soriano asked them to do whatever it takes to save her baby.

“The mother knew that was happening, but then got really bad right before the section was performed and ended up on a ventilator, and not being awake to the birth of a child,” said Schwartz.

The baby, who was only slightly premature, is doing well. He was transferred to a children’s hospital in New York, where he was picked up by his father on Tuesday.

Babies born to mothers with COVID-19 also tested positive in some rare instances, when they were checked shortly after birth.  But baby Walter’s tests came out negative for COVID-19.

Fatalities at the worst hit United States reached 32,917 on Thursday, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

This is by far the highest daily death toll with a marked increase of 4,491 deaths as of 8:30 pm on Friday (0030 GMT) in the past 24 hours. But the figure likely includes “probable” deaths related to COVID-19, which were not previously included.

The pandemic has extracted a heavy toll in New York, where more than 11,000 have died statewide.

The prognosis for patients who need to go on ventilators because their lungs are failing is poor, with only around 20 percent surviving the ordeal, according to the state’s governor.