A nurse at Breach Candy Hospital in south Mumbai has been admitted to the hospital’s isolation ward after testing positive for COVID-19 on Monday.

The hospital had closed its outpatient department (OPD) and stopped new admissions after a cardiac surgeon from Saifee Hospital, who offered consultations at the hospital, tested positive on March 27. Several staff members who had been exposed to the doctor were then tested. “We shut the outpatient department, cath lab and took measures to ensure that there is no spread of the infection. But some people can be in the incubation period,” said Dr. Geeta Koppikar, the hospital’s medical director.

It is not clear if the nurse who tested positive had come into contact with the doctor or any other positive patient. A source said the nurse stayed in a hostel in Mahim and shared her room with other nurses. “Her contacts have not been isolated yet,” said the source.

The nurse was first examined at the hospital’s triage OPD and then sent back to the hostel. It was only when her sample tested positive that she was brought back to the hospital and admitted to the isolation ward. Sources said that the ambulance driver who ferried her was not wearing any protective gear.

Healthcare workers are at high risk of contracting the novel coronavirus as they are constantly exposed to people showing symptoms of the disease and positive patients. Many staff members of Wockhardt and Jaslok hospitals have tested positive and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has declared both hospitals as containment zones. While 52 staff members, including nurses and doctors, have tested positive at Wockhardt Hospital, 21 staff members, including nurses and a security guard, have tested positive at Jaslok Hospital.

Over 1,000 samples sent

Civic officials said Jaslok Hospital had sent over 1,000 samples for testing and most of them have returned negative. If more positive cases are not reported, the hospital may be permitted to re-open in a few days. Reports of samples sent from Wockhardt Hospital are also awaited. Of the 21 staff members who tested positive at Jaslok Hopsital, 19 were asymptomatic and two had only mild symptoms. Of them, 16 were shifted to SevenHills Hospital in Marol and one had reported directly to Kasturba Hopsital. Four patients have been admitted to Jaslok Hospital’s COVID-19 ward.