ABSTRACT
Background: Although there is a significant increase of evidence regarding the prevalence and impact of COVID-19 on maternal and perinatal outcomes, data on the effects of the pandemic on the obstetric population in sub-Saharan African countries are still scarce. Therefore, the study aims were to assess the prevalence and impact of COVID-19 on maternal and neonatal outcomes in the obstetric population at Central Hospital of Maputo (HCM), Mozambique. Methods Prospective cohort study conducted at teaching and referral maternity, HCM, from 20 October 2020 to 22 July 2021. We collected maternal and perinatal outcomes up to six weeks postpartum of eligible women (pregnant and postpartum women - up to the 14th day postpartum) screened for COVID-19 (individual test for symptomatic participants and pool testing for asymptomatic). The primary outcome was maternal death, SARS and UCI admission. We estimated the COVID-19 prevalence and the unadjusted RR (95% CI) for maternal and perinatal outcomes. We used the chi-square or Fisher's exact test to compare qualitative variables (two-sided p-value