New Delhi: The Delhi government has sealed the Delhi State Cancer Institute (DSCI) after 18 healthcare workers — two doctors and 16 nurses — tested positive for COVID-19.
As a precautionary measure, various facilities of the hospital have been shut down with sanitisation measures already in place. Moreover, at least 50 other staff members, including senior doctors and the director of the hospital, have been advised to follow self-quarantine.
Meanwhile, the hospital workers who tested positive have been admitted to the Rajiv Gandhi Super Specialty Hospital. The hospital was recently converted into a dedicated centre for treatment of COVID-19 patients. Concerns over further infection have led the authorities to even start contact tracing for each and every one of the infected healthcare workers.
The 180-bedded hospital already housed 19 cancer patients and hence arrangements are being made to transfer them to another private hospital. Talks are on with Dharmshila Superspeciality Hospital.
However, cancer patients are already immune-compromised patients and hence are in the high-risk group of the fast infection of COVID-19. Hence, before shifting them to other hospitals, they are being tested for coronavirus symptoms.
Delhi so far has reported about 549 cases of COVID-19 (till Tuesday morning), of which 329 patients are those who had attended the event at Nizamuddin Markaz. A total of seven infected patients have died of the disease in the nation’s capital and 19 people have been cured or discharged.
