Covid-19 in Delhi: Three test positive, one dies at ‘hotspot’ Delhi State Cancer Institute

Coronavirus in Delhi: One of the three patients who tested positive for Covid-19 late Thursday night succumbed on Friday afternoon.

The Delhi government-run cancer hospital – the Delhi State Cancer Institute – has emerged as one of the hot spots of Covid-19 with 22 healthcare workers and three patients testing positive for the infection.

Around 60 to 70 of the staff members from the DSCI have been tested so far. The 100-bed hospital has already been sanitised twice and will again be sanitised on Saturday. (Photo by Sonu Mehta/Hindustan Times)

One of the three patients who tested positive for Covid-19 late Thursday night succumbed on Friday afternoon.

The hospital had shut its out-patient clinic after one of its doctors – a 35-year-old senior resident – tested positive for the infection on March 31. When three of the 19 staff members who had come in contact with the doctor also tested positive, the hospital decided to move around 48 of its patients to other facilities.

“We were waiting for the test results of the patients before moving them to other facilities. Three of the 19 patients we tested turned out to be positive. One person died. Now, we have asked all our staff members to get tested,” said Dr Ravinder Singh, Joint Director, Delhi State Cancer Institute.

So far, at least 40 hospital staff from the city have tested positive for the disease.

Accidental exposure to patients who later developed symptoms has resulted in around 130 staff members being quarantined at Max Hospital, Saket. “All of them tested negative and will soon be out of quarantine and ready to join back,” said a hospital personnel. Another 114 people have been quarantined and two have tested positive at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital. Around 81 staff members are under quarantine from Maharaja Agrasen hospital, against which action was initiated for not following protocols.

Around 60 to 70 of the staff members from the DSCI have been tested so far.

The 100-bed hospital has already been sanitised twice and will again be sanitised on Saturday. “However, the hospital will not start working immediately; not until all authorities agree that there is no chance of people getting infected. The hospital treats cancer patients, who are all immuno-compromised and are likely to get severe infection,” according to an official from the hospital.

Teams from the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme are still looking for a source of the spread of the infection. Two family members of the first doctor to have tested positive had visited him in February. However they have not tested positive for the infection.

“The authorities are doing detailed contact-tracing to see how the infection came to the hospital. We are looking at whether the staff had some get-togethers or cultural gathering,” according to a hospital personnel.

On Friday, Delhi recorded the highest number of cases in a day -- 183 -- taking the total to 903. Two deaths were reported -- one of an 80-year-old man from Daryaganj admitted to Venkateshwara hospital in Dwarka. He had chronic kidney disease and was undergoing dialysis when he had a cardiac arrest. His sample tested positive on Thursday when he died.

Details of the other death are awaited. The Delhi State Cancer Institute death is likely to be added to Delhi’s toll on Saturday.

“The death is added after proper review and it will likely be added only by tomorrow only after all details are received,” said an official from Delhi’s health department.