Thirty healthcare workers at the Pariyaram Medical College Hospital in Kerala’s Kannur have contracted COVID-19. But none of them had been on duty at the COVID segment of the hospital, says Superintendent Dr Sudeep. “The hospital is divided into COVID and non-COVID segments. Healthcare workers in the COVID segment strictly follow all the measures such as wearing PPE kits, masks and so on. Once they finish their duty there, they will be rested for a period before they join duty at the non-COVID segment. In five months of the outbreak, not a single healthcare worker in the COVID-segment has contracted the disease. All the 30 cases are from the non-COVID units,” said Dr Sudeep.
This showed a dangerous trend since it could mean that people who come to the hospital for other ailments may have contracted COVID-19 and are not aware of it. “It would show signs of a spread that is on the brink of community transmission. Many of these cases are from Kasargod (neighbouring district),” Dr Sudeep said.
On July 19 night, a 20-year-old person who was severely injured in a road accident was admitted at the hospital. A surgery was conducted in the early hours of Sunday and two days later, the patient’s swab was collected. The result came positive for coronavirus. “It would take a minimum of six days for a person to contract the disease and test positive. This patient has tested in two days of being admitted. That means the patient must have contracted the disease before getting admitted here. On Thursday, the person passed away and the samples were once again collected, but this time they came back negative.”
The surgeons and all the others who came in contact with the patient have gone into quarantine for a week and their test results are not out yet.
However, undetected cases of COVID-19 among the patients who come to the hospital for other issues are a threat. “The healthcare workers need to take all the precautions such as wearing N95 masks, gloves, using sanitisers and so on. It is not just patients, it can be bystanders too who might be infected. Bystanders should keep distance when doctors come for the rounds,” Dr Sudeep said.
Kerala has earlier reported community spread in two coastal areas in Thiruvananthapuram. Kasargod which has earlier had a surge in cases was able to bring it down after triple lockdown controls were put in place. There are 9,656 active cases of COVID-19 in the state now, with 658 of them in Kasargod.
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