Three doctors, cop test positive for Covid-19 in Abbottabad

Another 33 medical staff cleared after testing negative

ABBOTTABAD: At least three doctors and a police officer in Abbottabad tested positive for the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) on Friday. Meanwhile, at least 33 other medical staff, including doctors, nurses and paramedics were cleared after testing negative.

Ayub Medical College Medical Director Dr Ahsan Aurangzeb told the media on Friday that the hospital administration had tested all medical staff including doctors, nurses and paramedics, posted in the Covid-19 isolation ward. The tests results of 33 staffers came back negative, he said.

Dr Aurangzeb said that previously, they had to send nasal swab samples to different laboratories for testing, but with a modern laboratory set up at the teaching hospital, they could quickly conduct their own tests.

However, he said that at least three doctors had tested positive. He said that two of the doctors contracted the virus from within the hospital when they interacted with a patient without knowing at the time that she had the virus. Another doctor contracted the virus from outside the hospital.

Meanwhile, he clarified reports regarding another senior doctor, who has a large private practice in Mansehra, as having contracted the virus. Dr Aurangzeb said that the medical practitioner had tested negative for the virus.

Separately, Abbottabad District Police Officer (DPO) Javed Wazir confirmed that the test reports of a police officer deputed in Donga Gali had come back as positive.

The officer has been in the quarantine ward of the District Headquarters Hospital. As part of precautionary measures, he said that they disinfected the relevant police station apart from testing all the staff deputed there.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 25^th, 2020.