The Panchkula district may have to use its reserve force of doctors beginning Thursday as contacts are traced and isolated.
A FAMILY of four, residing as well as working inside the Civil Hospital of Panchkula, tested positive for novel coronavirus on Wednesday. While the wife had tested positive Tuesday, her husband and two children tested positive on Wednesday. Two more cases were reported from the district, taking Panchkula’s total cases to 58.
The husband , 47, works in the post-mortem department of the hospital while the wife, 47, used to cook food at doctors’ residences inside the hospital. Their two sons (in their early 20s) too work at the hospital as class four employees on a contractual basis.
According to the nodal officer, Dr Rajiv Narwal, the wife had been to Rajpura to attend a funeral recently. She was examined on return and tested positive.
In orders passed late Tuesday, a containment zone of house number 4a and 4b inside the hospital campus has already been created. The family had been isolated on Tuesday itself.
As per sources, doctors at whose house the wife used to cook at had tested negative Tuesday. However, doctors at the hospital argue if it was right to test and clear the contacts of the wife so soon. “They should have taken at least a five-day gap to test the wife’s contact. This is very premature. We have seen the virus being detected generally after a week of contact. For the sake of hospital and its patients, we hope contacts will be tested again,” said a senior doctor of the hospital, not wanting to be identified.
A rigorous contact tracing of doctors inside hospital and other persons they might have come in touch with will begin. “We may have to quarantine more than 10 doctors and many more of our staff. All doctors who conducted post-mortems with him recently will also have to be quarantined and tested at a later date,” Dr Narwal said.
The Panchkula district may have to use its reserve force of doctors beginning Thursday as contacts are traced and isolated.
“We will hold a meeting tomorrow and a decision on how to go about will be taken in consultation with the CMO,” Dr Narwal added.
Meanwhile, two other cases, with recent travel history of an 18-year old from Barwala and 24-year-old from Rewari, tested positive on Wednesday. Both had returned by bus to Panchkula and remained asymptomatic. More than 13 immediate contacts of the two have already been picked up and quarantined. The patients will be shifted to BRS Dental College- Covid Care Centre on Thursday.
The district total along with the family of four and two other cases now stands at 58 with 30 active cases in the district. A total of 31 cases from other districts are also receiving treatment in Panchkula. Random sampling in all containment areas is being conducted continuously.