Thirteen health workers including five doctors of Mitford Hospital in Dhaka have tested positive for Covid-19.
The test results came on Thursday, since then the hospital authorities have shut down the operation theatre and post-operative department.
All of them were infected by two patients who had surgeries earlier and later tested positive for Covid-19. The patients got admitted to the hospital’s Surgery unit on Saturday.
Hospital authorities collected samples from all patients in the post-operative unit for testing.
The two patients who tested positive were sent to specialized Covid-19 hospital for further treatment.
According to the hospital sources, two doctors from the Surgery Department, two doctors from the Department of Anaesthesiology, four nurses, and three ward boys took part in the operations where they contracted the virus.
One doctor and one staff member also got infected while attending the patients at their ward.
Assistant Registrar of Surgery Department of the hospital Mithun Chakrobarty said the patients concealed information during admission by saying they came from Madaripur whereas they actually came from Narayanganj.
One of the patients disclosed after an operation to his gullet that he came from Narayanganj on Saturday, Mithun said.
This patient had no symptoms but the doctors decided to test him and one other for Covid-19 as Narayanganj has been a hotspot for the virus and administration locked down the district, he added.
Later, the hospital authorities sent all of the health workers who came into their contact, to quarantine.
Moreover, the doctors attended many patients and conducted surgeries until they were sent to quarantine.
Mithun said they would have taken necessary measures if the patients had informed that they came from a coronavirus cluster zone.
As of Wednesday, 111 health workers including 65 doctors have tested coronavirus positive while Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College Hospital’s Dr Md Moyeen Uddin died from the fast spreading virus.
