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Woman intern at AIIMS Rishikesh tests positive for Covid-19
She is the fourth healthcare worker, who has contracted SARS-CoV-2, which causes the disease, in the hill state.
A 23-year-old healthcare intern working at the emergency department of Rishikesh-based All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) tested coronavirus disease (Covid-19) positive on Friday late night, as the overall tally in Uttarakhand rose to 58.
She is the fourth healthcare worker, who has contracted SARS-CoV-2, which causes the disease, in the hill state.
UB Mishra, dean, AIIMS, Rishikesh, said that the healthcare worker, an intern at the hospital since April 16, is likely to have been infected by a Covid-19 patient, who died on Friday.
“The Covid-19 patient, who died on Friday, had been kept at the emergency ward, where the intern had also attended to her. She is likely to have contracted the virus from the deceased patient,” said Mishra.
“We’re tracing the contacts of the intern. All her hostel inmates have been put under quarantine,” he added.
“We’re also testing the swab samples of all her hostel inmates. The reports are likely to come by Sunday. The hostel’s mess has been sanitised along with the hospital’s emergency department, which has also been sealed for the next 24 hours,” the dean said.
Doctors and the paramedical staff of the AIIMS are being shifted to nearby hotels to prevent the spread of the viral outbreak.
On Friday, the 56-year-old woman from Nainital district, who tested Covid-19 positive on Tuesday, died, but not because of the viral infection, the hospital authorities said.
She died of a brain stroke, a health bulletin issued by the state government said. Harish Mohan Thapliyal, public relations officer (PRO), AIIMS, Rishikesh, said that she died because of excessive bleeding from the brain.
So far, AIIMS Rishikesh has reported five Covid-19 positive cases, including a nursing officer, a nurse, an attendant, an intern, and the woman, who died on Friday.
