3 doctors among nine found Covid-infected in biggest single-day spike in Chandigarh

The three were posted in the same block of the hospital as the attendant who tested positive for the virus on Friday

In the biggest single-day spike in Chandigarh, confirmed novel coronavirus cases surged to 45 with nine fresh ones, including that of three women doctors, being reported on Monday.

Chandigarh has witnessed a spike of 18 cases in the last four days taking the total count to 45. (Representative Image/Ravi Kumar/HT)

As many as 40% of the total cases in Chandigarh — which reported its first case on March 18 — have surfaced in the past four days, the spike being triggered after a 30-year-old operation theatre (OT) attendant of Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32, tested positive on Friday. Seven of the new cases are his contacts.

Among them are his four workplace contacts, including three women resident doctors in the anaesthesia department of GMCH, who were posted in the emergency OT of the hospital.

They have identfied as a 30-year-old residing in Sector 49, 24-year-old residing in Sector 21 and 27-year-old residing in the campus hostel. Similarly, a 28-year-old male resident of Ram Darbar, who works as a housekeeping staffer in the hospital, has been found to be infected.

Meanwhile, a 55-year-old male neighbour and another 38-year-old male community contact in Bapu Dham Colony, Sector 26, besides a 19-year-old female family contact, who resides in Sector 52, have tested positive.

The remaining two cases — 41-year-old man and 65-year-old woman of the same household in Sector 30B — are contacts of a positive case reported on April 17.

Over the weekend, six contacts of the first GMCH positive case — parents, two sisters, a child relative and a colleague — had also tested positive. He was booked on Saturday for having hosted a party on April 17, which was attended by 123 people, in violation of curfew orders.