Non-COVID area of a tertiary care hospital: A major source of nosocomial COVID-19 transmission

Non-COVID area of a tertiary care hospital: A major source of nosocomial COVID-19 transmission

Mahendra K Meena, Mahendra Singh, Prasan K Panda, Mukesh K Bairwa

COVID-19 pandemic has spread to all corners of the world where infection control measures are being implemented. There is now a resurgence of the disease in health care facilities with documented in-hospital transmission and cases becoming positive in areas designated to cater for COVID-19 negative patients. We encountered such an event at our institution where fourteen patients (including health care workers) in the non-COVID zone were found to be COVID-19 positive. This highlights the loopholes in the system and the need for better and systematic infection control measures in hospitals that deal with infectious diseases with high infectivity. Findings also suggests the failure of government's criteria for suspected COVID-19 cases, and therefore needs a rethinking. Keywords:

2020

infection prevention, pandemic preparedness, asymptomatic transmission, nosocomial covid-19

10.4103/jfcm.JFCM_285_20

Journal of Family and Community Medicine

Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications

Public aspects of medicine