At least 23 more staff members of the Nanavati Hospital in Vile Parle including doctors, X-ray technicians, ward boys and others have tested positive for COVID-19 over the past weeks. Sources said only four of these people worked in the COVID-19 ward of the hospital, while the rest were residents of areas where many cases have been reported.

Many of those who had tested positive have recovered and also resumed duties. Earlier, two staff nurses and a kitchen staff had tested positive and they have also recovered from the infection. Bharatiya Janata Party leader Kirit Somaiya sent a list of the 26 positive staff to the health officer in the K West ward on Thursday, requesting her to take note of, and address the issue.

At the civic-run Sion hospital, three more staff including a doctor, a nurse and a class IV worker tested positive on Thursday, taking the total number of infected hospital employees to 57. This total includes 20 resident doctors, one lecturer, three technicians, and nine class IV workers. According to Dr. Pramod Ingle from Sion hospital, many of those who had tested positive have recovered and resumed duties. “For healthcare staff, if their second test report comes negative after five days, they are being enrolled back into the work schedule at the hospital,” he said.