Nurse at Ruby Hall Clinic tests Covid-19 positive, 30 others quarantined

A 45-year-old nurse working at Ruby Hall Clinic, tested positive for coronavirus, health authorities said on Sunday, prompting the hospital administration to quarantine other hospital staffers.

This is the first instance where a staff involved in health services in Pune has tested positive for Covid-19.

After the nurse tested positive on Saturday evening, at least 30 other nurses, who were colleagues of the positive patient, were quarantined immediately, said officials of the Ruby Hall Clinic, a private multispeciality hospital in the city.

“The nurse, who works in the general ward, was on leave. After resuming work, she showed minor symptoms of the coronavirus infection. As a precautionary measure, we conducted a medical check-up and her samples were sent for testing,” said Dr Sanjay Pathare, director of Medical Services, Ruby Hall Clinic.

It was confirmed that she was Covid-19 positive after her test reports came on Saturday. After this, she was immediately taken to the isolation facility of the hospital and her colleagues were quarantined.

“As she works in the general ward, she was not in contact with the isolation patients. Her condition is stable now and is under treatment. We have quarantined 30 nurses after the reports, some of them are head nurses, so their samples have been sent for testing, ” added Dr Pathare.

Earlier last week, as many as 92 people, including doctors and nurses from the Yashwantro Chavan Hospital at Pimpri-Chinchwad, had to be quarantined after a patient who has been treated there, tested Covid-19 positive. However, all the doctors and other staff tested negative for the Sars-Cov-2 virus which caused the Covid-19 infection.