25 people in Army's RR hospital test positive for coronavirus

NEW DELHI: In a major coronavirus outbreak at the apex Army (Research and Referral) Hospital in Delhi Cantonment, 25 patients admitted in its oncology ward have tested positive for Covid-19, even as further tests are being conducted.
With this, over 80 serving personnel from the armed forces, along with another 20 veterans and dependent family members, are currently admitted as Covid patients in different military hospitals around the country.
At the Army (R&R) Hospital, while one patient in the cancer ward was detected to be positive for coronavirus a couple of days ago, the results of another 24 came positive on Monday evening.
“All 25, which include 21 serving jawans from the three Services, three dependents and a veteran, were on Tuesday shifted to the nearby Army Base Hospital, which is the designated military hospital for Covid cases in the city,” said an officer.
Extensive contact tracing, testing and quarantine protocol is underway at the R&R Hospital, which is the apex tertiary care hospital for the armed forces in the country. “No doctor or nurse has tested positive for Covid-19 till now…further tests are in progress,” he said.
This is the second major outbreak of the highly-contagious coronavirus in the armed forces after 38 sailors tested positive for Covid-19 at INS Angre, the main shore-based logistics and administrative depot of the Western Naval Command in Mumbai, last month. “Of them, 12 have been discharged from the hospital after recovering,” said another officer.
The Navy has now also quarantined over 150 officers and sailors at its logistics base in Kolkata, INS Netaji Subhash, after two personnel showed flu-like symptoms. “The test results are yet to come but the step has been taken as a precautionary measure,” said an officer.