With the country facing the second wave of the novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19), at least 97 health workers at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) have test positive for the virus on Saturday.
Sources informed The Express Tribune that scores of health workers including doctors and paramedics of Pims have been infected with the pandemic recently.
In the latest wave of the Covid-19, at least 75 doctors, 12 nurses and 10 other staffers of the Pims have contracted the virus, sources said.
Sharing details, the sources said that 51 trainee doctors and 24 medical officers in the hospital have been infected with the virus. At least 12 nurses at the children hospital have been tested positive while five doctors at the cardiac centre and five others at the gynaecology ward have contracted the virus, the sources said.
Moreover, 10 other staffers at various wards of the hospital have also been tested positive for novel coronavirus. The virus has surged due to fall in temperatures while the patients visiting are also not following the standard operating procedures (SOPs), the hospital sources added.
It was further informed that the PIMS staff infected with the virus have been quarantined at homes.
The Pims administration had recently said that non-implementation of SOPs at a hospital could become a source of virus spread and warned that Outpatient Departments (OPDs) will be closed if the cases increased.
Several departments of two varsities sealed
Meanwhile, several departments of two different universities in Islamabad were sealed off after the detection of novel coronavirus cases on Saturday.
The Islamabad District Health Officer (DHO) issued a notification in this regard too.
The circular read that the MS Data Sciences Department of FUAST University in Sector H-11/4 was identified with two positive cases after which it has been closed indefinitely.
The building has been sprayed with disinfectant chemicals to cull the virus, it stated.
Further, the novel coronavirus positive cases surfaced from different departments of the National University of Modern Languages (NUML) as well following which the relevant departments were sealed.
The circular further stated that at NUML University, some two cases were reported from the Management Sciences Department while one each was detected at the Computer Science, International Relations, English, and Business Administration departments. Besides this, one case was also reported among staff members of the university’s publications office department.
All related departments have been sealed while the infected people have been sent under isolation.
The health office has issued directions to the universities to implement precautionary guidelines and carry out testing of all students and staff members.
With additional input from DNA
Published in The Express Tribune, November 8th, 2020.
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