In the last four days, 18 staff members of the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College Hospital have tested positive for coronavirus. This includes seven doctors and three nurses who were not on COVID-19 duty. Three patients who were under treatment in the surgery, orthopaedic and super speciality ward also got infected.

Following this, 150 staff members of the hospital, including 40 doctors and 80 nurses, have been placed in quarantine.

“We’d expected this situation and had a strategy ready to follow if any health worker gets infected. So even as 150 staff members go into quarantine, it will not affect the functioning of the hospital. There will be some regulations in the outpatient department,” state Minister Kadakampally Surendran, who is in charge of COVID-19 containment activities in Thiruvananthapuram, told reporters on Sunday.

“None of the health workers working in COVID-19 wards tested positive. Because they know that they work with COVID-19 patients, they take enough precautions. So health workers employed in other areas too should follow all the precautions strictly,” the Minister added.

As per reports, three patients who were admitted to the hospital got COVID-19 and the doctors who tested positive were their primary contacts.

“The nurses who tested positive were not on COVID-19 duty. That means adequate precautionary measures were not taken. We’re worried. Now we’ve sufficient protection equipment but earlier it was not the case, that is why this happened,” Anas SM, a representative of the Kerala government nurses’ union, told the media.

The association also demanded more staff for the hospital.

Meanwhile, one more death was reported from Kerala due to coronavirus. Kunjumeeram, a 67-year-old from Ernakulam, had been admitted to the Kalamassery Medical College Hospital since July 8 with pneumonia. Though he underwent plasma therapy, he couldn’t be saved. With this, the total number of deaths in the state stands at 44.