The dreaded  Coronavirus which has become the nemesis for the world, but has not deterred a couple in Chhattisgarh to name their newborn twins as ‘Corona’ and ‘Covid’ amid the ongoing 21-day nationwide lockdown, to arrest the spread of COVID-19, which has disrupted normal life.

The twins, a boy and a girl were born on the intervening night of March 26-27 at a government hospital in Raipur.

The names, said the couple, would remind them about all the hardships they conquered amid the lockdown. However, the couple said they may change their decision later and rename their kids.

“I was blessed with the twins – a boy and a girl – in the early hours on March 27. We have named them Covid (boy) and Corona (girl) for now,”  news agency PTI quoted  Preeti Verma as saying.

The 27-old mother of the newborns said, “The delivery happened after facing several difficulties and therefore, my husband and I wanted to make the day memorable.”

Fore choosing the unusual name, Preeti Verma said,  “Indeed the virus is dangerous and life-threatening but its outbreak made people focus on sanitation, hygiene and inculcate other good habits. Thus, we thought about these names.”

“When the hospital staff also started calling the babies as Corona and Covid, we finally decided to name them after the pandemic,” she said.

“On late night of March 26, I suddenly experienced severe labour pain and somehow my husband arranged an ambulance operated under 102 Mahtari Express service. As no vehicular movement was allowed on roads due to the lockdown, we were stopped by police at various places but they let us go after noticing my condition,” the mother said.

“I was wondering what would happen in the hospital as it was midnight, but fortunately doctors and other staff were very cooperative,” she said.

“Our relatives, who wanted to reach the hospital, could not make it as bus and train services were stopped due to the lockdown,” said Ms Verma, who already has a two-year-old daughter.

The Public Relations Officer (PRO) of Dr BR Ambedkar Memorial Hospital, where the twins were born,  Shubhra Singh said, “the mother and the newborns were discharged recently and they were in good health.”

As soon as Ms Verma reached the hospital with her husband, arrangements were made to perform a caesarean section on her as it was a complicated case, Ms Singh said.

“Within 45 minutes of their arrival, the delivery was done successfully,” the PRO said.

“The twins had become a centre of attraction in the hospital after the couple named them as Covid and Corona”, added PRO Singh.

The couple, originally from Uttar Pradesh, reside in a rented house in the Purani Basti area of the state capital.