Five more post-graduate medicos of Osmania Medical College (OMC) in Hyderabad on Tuesday tested positive for COVID-19, taking the total number of affected medicos to 12.
Sources told TNM that this included four more PG medicos who were discharging duties at the Government Maternity Hospital at Petlaburj, besides one more person who was posted at Fever Hospital.
The fresh cases were reported after all 296 medicos staying in OMC hostels were screened for the coronavirus. Sources said that the results of samples of only 100 students have come while the test results of the remaining medicos were expected on Wednesday.
OMC authorities have shut down the reading room as a precautionary measure and asked medicos to use Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) kits while examining patients.
The COVID-19 cases have sent panic among students at a time when they were preparing for PG examinations. Authorities have assured them that special arrangements would be made for the students tested positive to write the exams.
Medicos suspect that COVID-19 might have spread in the hostels as they had been interacting with each other while preparing for PG examinations scheduled from June 28.
The Telangana Junior Doctors' Association (TJUDA) has demanded that the examinations be postponed.
There are 180 female medicos and 116 male medicos in the two hostels in OMC campus. They provide services in 10 hospitals which come under OMC.
Three students had tested positive on Monday. Personnel from the Health Department and Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) swung into action to take up disinfection of hostels.
A woman gynaecology PG medico was infected five days ago while discharging duties at Government Maternity Hospital in Petlaburj and other medicos were suspected to have picked up the virus from her. Her roommate was among those who tested positive.
All the 12 medicos have been admitted to King Koti and Gandhi Hospital for treatment and contact tracing is underway.
Four more persons died of COVID-19 in Telangana on Tuesday, pushing the death toll to 92. The state has been reporting fatalities on a daily basis for more than two weeks.
Meanwhile, the surge in COVID-19 cases also continued on Tuesday with 99 people testing positive. Officials said 87 of them were locals while 12 migrants returning from other states were also found infected.
With the fresh cases, the state's tally rose to 2,891 including 446 migrants, deportees and foreign returnees.
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With IANS inputs