The Mie Prefectural Government building is seen in the prefectural capital of Tsu. (Mainichi/Hiroki Sameshima)

       TSU -- A woman in her 20s whose husband contracted the coronavirus has miscarried after being turned away from a doctor because her lack of symptoms made her ineligible for a COVID-19 test, the Mie Prefectural Government revealed Sept. 3.

       According to the prefectural government and the Yokkaichi municipal public health center, the woman lives in the city and was four months pregnant. Her husband was confirmed to have the coronavirus on Aug. 20, and she was recognized as having had close contact with him. But her lack of symptoms meant she was unable to take a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test.

       She complained of bleeding and consulted an obstetrician-gynecologist, but the medical facility refused to examine her for reasons including that she had close contact with an infected individual. Because she had stomach pains the following day, she went to see a doctor at a different medical institution, where she was examined and given a PCR test. The woman was then told to wait at home for the results, but her water broke on the way home. She miscarried after she was sent to hospital by ambulance. She was later found negative for the coronavirus.

       The prefectural government said that since mid-August, a number of public health centers seeing many infections have prioritized people with symptoms when testing close contacts of infected people. It also said it will notify health centers in the prefecture again to urge them to unconditionally conduct PCR tests in future cases where pregnant women and people with preexisting health conditions are close contacts.

       (Japanese original by Go Taniguchi, Tsu Bureau)

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