Thirty-three staffers, including two doctors, nurses and paramedic staff, of a leading private hospital in Delhi have tested positive for coronavirus over the last two weeks, sources said on Monday.
Max Healthcare group had announced two weeks ago that it was going to conduct tests for COVID-19 on all its employees and patients at its facilities across the country.
"Since the test started, 33 staffers, including two doctors, nurses, paramedics, and non-medical staff, have tested positive for COVID-19 at Max Hospital, Patparganj, till date," a source said.
Max Hospital, Patparganj is an upscale health facility in East Delhi.
All the affected people have been shifted to a quarantine facility in East Block of Max Hospital, Saket in south Delhi, the sources said.
The East Block of the hospital is a dedicated COVID-19 facility.
Healthcare workers from hospitals under Max Healthcare (18,000), BLK Hospital (3,000) and Nanavati Hospital, Mumbai (3,000) will be tested over the next few weeks, officials of Max Healthcare had earlier said.
The move had come in the wake of a doctor, a nurse and a non-medical staff at Max Hospital, Saket earlier testing positive for coronavirus.
Later in a statement, Max Healthcare group said it has so far pro-actively tested 581 healthcare workers for COVID-19. These workers were tested over the past two weeks as per the mandatory testing policy initiated by the group earlier, it said.
"Out of these, 33 healthcare workers have tested positive, of which 32 are presently admitted in Max Hospital, Saket and one patient has been discharged. All the patients admitted in the hospital are stable and in wards, and do not require oxygen or ICU support," the statement said.
Across Max Healthcare, close to 3,000 healthcare workers have been tested and "approximately 2 per cent have tested positive", it said.
"This is significantly below the average incidence of the disease reported in the general population in Delhi. The incidence in Patparganj Hospital is a little higher as it is surrounded by hotspots, where many of our healthcare workers live," the hospital group claimed.
Max Healthcare has at present 200 COVID-19 patients at its facilities spread across Delhi and Mumbai, it said.
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