About 30 health workers, including doctors and nurses, of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi have been quarantined after a patient admitted to the neurological department tested positive for the coronavirus, NDTV reported on Thursday.
The 70-year-old patient had come with neurological complaints and was admitted to the cardio-neuro centre of the hospital. “Later he complained of chest pain and respiratory distress so an X-ray was done,” an unidentified official told IANS. “But as he complained of chest pain, his sample was taken and sent for testing which came out positive for Covid-19.”
The patient was shifted to the dedicated Covid-19 wing of the hospital at the Trauma Centre. Meanwhile, several doctors and nurses who came in contact with him were asked to put themselves in quarantine. So far, none of them have exhibited any symptom of Covid-19, according to NDTV.
Last week, a resident doctor of the hospital, and his nine-month pregnant wife, also a doctor at the facility, tested positive for the novel coronavirus. The doctor belongs to the Physiology Department of AIIMS, and was reportedly admitted to the new private ward for further treatment and testing. Meanwhile, the hospital administration undertook rigorous contact tracing after the doctor said he recently attended a farewell ceremony at work.
Doctors, nurses and the non-medical staff of several hospitals have tested positive for the coronavirus in recent weeks. The Wockhardt Hospital in Mumbai Central was declared a containment zone last week after 26 nurses and three doctors tested positive for Covid-19 over a week’s period. A civic official said nobody will be allowed to enter or leave the hospital until every infected person there tests negative twice consecutively.
A Delhi government-run cancer hospital was also shut down after a doctor tested positive for the coronavirus. The Out Patient Department, laboratories and offices of the Delhi State Cancer Institute in Dilshad Garden was shut down and the area was sanitised, government officials said. Those who came in contact with the doctor were also placed under quarantine.
Last month, a doctor at a North East Delhi mohalla clinic had tested positive for the coronavirus. The doctor tested positive on March 21 after a 38-year-old woman, with a travel history to Saudi Arabia, visited his clinic. The woman had returned to India on March 10. The doctor’s wife and daughter, who also tested positive for Covid-19, have been at an isolation facility at Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital.
The number of confirmed cases in India rose to 5,734 on Thursday. The toll in the country is now 166, said the health ministry. In the last 24 hours, India has reported 570 new infections and 17 deaths.
Follow today’s live updates of the coronavirus pandemic here
Limited-time offer: Big stories, small price. Keep independent media alive. Become a Scroll member today!
Our journalism is for everyone. But you can get special privileges by buying an annual Scroll Membership. Sign up today!