Two private hospitals in Mumbai have been sealed after some of their medical staff, including doctors and nurses, tested positive for the novel coronavirus, civic officials said on Monday.
Three doctors and 26 nurses tested positive for novel coronavirus in Wockhardt Hospital in Mumbai Central and the facility has been sealed off to prevent the spread of infection, Brihhanmumbai Municipal Corporation health officials said.
No one is allowed to enter or exit the private hospital, a civic official said.
The hospital has several employees from Kerala, prompting Congress leader from the southern state, Ramesh Chennithala, to tweet, "Called Maharashtra health minister Shri. Rajesh Tope ji @rajeshtope11 seeking urgent intervention to ensure safety of 40 Covid19 positive Malayalee nurses working @ a pvt hospital in Mumbai."
New admissions were stopped and outpatient department was closed at the Jaslok Hospital in Mumbai on Wednesday after at least one of its staff tested positive for coronavirus.
A nurse working at the private hospital had alleged in a video message that was circulating on social media that more than one staff member had contracted coronavirus, but the hospital said only one person had tested positive.
Following the allegations by the nurse, a meeting was called at the Brihhanmumbai Municipal Corporation office, which was attended by top officials of the hospital, BMC sources said.
As per the nurse who is seen speaking in the video, the hospital management did not inform the staff about admission of a COVID-19 patient.
When contacted, Jaslok Hospital admitted that a nurse who came in contact with a COVID-19 patient did test positive.
"The staff members handling COVID-19 patients are given protective gears like face masks, gloves, eye protection, Personal Protection Equipment for contact droplet and airborne transmission of pathogens, long-sleeved water resistant gown to ensure precaution.
"All the medical staff who came in direct or indirect contact of the affected nurse and the connected patient have been identified and quarantined as per the protocol," it said.
As a precautionary measure, the hospital has suspended its OPD services and no new admissions are being taken for a few days, it said.
At least 92 staff members, including several doctors, of the D Y Patil Hospital in Pune in Maharashtra have been quarantined after an accident victim, who was being treated at the facility, tested positive for coronavirus, an official said on Monday.
A senior civic official denied speculations of the COVID-19 patient having direct or indirect link to the Tablighi Jamaat which organised a religious congregation at Nizamuddin in Delhi last month that later emerged as a
coronavirus hotspot in the country.
The patient, an autorickshaw driver, met with the accident on March 31, said Jitendra Bhawalkar, dean of the D Y Patil Medical College and Hospital, a private medical facility located in Pimpri Chinchwad township.
"The man,who is in his 30s, came to the emergency section of the hospital on March 31 after the accident. He was operated upon and on the second day, he developed fever. The doctors got suspicious and his samples were sent for testing which came out positive for coronavirus," he said.
The patient was immediately shifted to the Yashwantrao Chavan Memorial Hospital.
"We then tried to find out those who came in contact with the man and quarantined our 42 doctors and 50 paramedical staff members as a precaution. Samples of all of them have been sent for tests," Bhawalkar said.
-- With inputs from Agencies
