26 staffers of Wockhardt Hospital in Mumbai test positive for coronavirus, count touches 82

The total number of coronavirus-infected medical staffers at Wockhardt Hospital in Mumbai Central reached 82 on Thursday, after 26 more employees were found positive

The total number of coronavirus-infected medical staffers at Wockhardt Hospital in Mumbai Central reached 82 on Thursday, after 26 more employees were found positive for the virus in the second slot of testing. Fifteen of them are nurses, while the remaining ones are other staff members. Wockhardt Hospital now has the most number of Covid-19 positive staff members in the state.

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“The staff members who were detected positive were already quarantined at the hospital. As per protocol, we ran a second set of test on them and found 26 new patients. All these patients have been kept in the isolation ward of the hospital,” Dr Daksha Shah, deputy health officer, BMC, said. The hospital is also awaiting the reports of 58 other staffers.

Wockhardt Hospital’s outpatient departments and non-emergency services had closed operations and it was declared a containment zone last week after 56 of its staffers were diagnosed with Covid-19.

As the hospital was sealed, several patients have been also quarantined inside it. Their relatives are now worried. A man who’s wife is quarantined at the hospital told HT that nurses continued to attend her despite being asked to remain in quarantine. “The hospital has played with the lives of patients by letting the infection spread among staffers. I can’t even take my wife out of the hospital,” he said.

Meanwhile, head of the hospital, who has also been diagnosed with Covid-19, has been shifted to Nanavati Hospital after his condition started deteriorating. According to sources at Nanavati Hospital, his condition is stable now.