Covid-19: At Delhi’s Max hospital, 33 healthcare workers test positive, 145 nurses quarantined
Out of these 33 workers, two are doctors and 23 are nursing staff. The remaining are technicians and support staff.
At least 33 healthcare workers at the Max Super Speciality Hospital in Delhi’s Patparganj area have tested positive for Covid-19, The Indian Express reported on Monday. Out of these, two are doctors and 23 are nursing staff. The remaining workers are technicians and support staff.
“As part of our ongoing routine Covid-19 testing for all healthcare workers, admitted patients and new admissions, a total of 33 healthcare workers have tested positive since the exercise began earlier this month at Max Hospital, Patparganj,” the hospital group told the newspaper. “All of them have been shifted to our Covid-only Max Hospital, Saket, east wing.”
The hospital also said that 145 nurses from the Patparganj facility “were quarantined for 14 days in a private hostel, where they live”. The entire hostel complex was sealed and declared a containment zone by the local authorities, it added.
This is the second hospital under Max Healthcare – one of India’s largest healthcare providers in the private sector – to develop a cluster of infections among its employees. Earlier on April 13, at least 39 nurses from Max’s Saket hospital, which is their dedicated Covid-19 centre, were sent into quarantine after a doctor, a nurse and a paramedic tested positive.
On April 15, the hospital chain had announced it would test its 24,000 healthcare workers and 1,000 patients across the country over the next few weeks.
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Meanwhile, an unidentified health department official in the Capital told the newspaper that contract tracing of the hospital staff began after a patient undergoing dialysis tested positive. “During investigation, we found 145 nurses from the hospital living in the same hostel, with each room being shared by three-four nurses,” the official said. “Samples of all nurses were sent for testing.”
The number of coronavirus cases in Delhi stood at 2,918 on Monday, with 54 deaths. Meanwhile, the total number of coronavirus cases in India reached 27,892 on Monday morning and the toll rose to 872.