Cases continue to stay on an uphill trend in Bengaluru, even with the lockdown announced, the cases have been rising sharply. In a new development, 17 staff at the Sanjiv Gandhi Institute of Trauma and Orthopaedics have tested positive for coronavirus on Wednesday.
What left authorities stumped was how the staff caught the virus when the hospital didn't treat COVID patients in the first place. The hospital is now shut temporarily for sanitisation.
17 hospital staff test positive for COVID-19
At the Sanjiv Gandhi Institute of Trauma and Orthopaedics, five doctors and 12 paramedical staff including ward boys, nurses, technicians and others have tested positive for COVID-19 in Bengaluru on Tuesday evening.
While this isn't the first hospital to report COVID cases in Bengaluru what is concerning is the fact that this hospital doesn't treat COVID-19 patients, so the source of where the staff contracted the virus from adds to the confusion.
The hospital has now been shut for sanitization, however, emergency services are still functioning since the hospital happens to be the only trauma care government care centre in the city. Director Dr HS Chandrashekar told The New Indian Express, that the asymptomatic doctors have been isolated at home while the paramedical staff have been isolated at a separate hospital wing, because of constraints at their accommodation.
The staff are all provided access to PPE kits, N95 marks and protective gear to prevent contact with the infection, however, the staff still tested positive. The staff undergo thermal screening and are given prophylaxis medication as well.
The current situation in the city has left both the healthcare and government overwhelmed. Bengaluru now has reported nearly 23,000 cases in all.
