By Ling Hui
KUCHING, July 16: A nursing staff from Normah Medical Specialist Centre (NMSC), who was Covid-19 Case 582, was believed to have been infected outside of the hospital.
In a press statement on Facebook yesterday, the NMSC management disclosed that the the nursing staff was stationed at the screening area of the Accident and Emergency Unit outside of the hospital building.
“The nurse was tested because she was in contact with a patient who was suspected of having Covid-19. The patient has since been tested negative by the Sarawak General Hospital (SGH),” it stated.
NMSC management also emphasised that the nursing staff was in full personal protective equipment (PPE) at all times, as she was stationed at a high risk screening area, in accordance with guidelines from the Ministry of Health (MoH).
“She is now warded in isolation at the SGH and is still without any symptoms.
“Her contacts and colleagues in Norman, 22 personnel in total have all been sent for Covid-19 tests and put under quarantine since yesterday (July 14) immediately after the result (Case 582) was known. All have been tested negative,” it added.
Nevertheless, NMSC management said that the personnel will remain in quarantine and a second RT-PCR (rapid test polymerase chain reaction) will be done after 13 days, as per protocol by the MoH.
“The site where she was working has undergone a deep cleaning. Contact tracing outside the hospital is being conducted by the State Health Department.”
NMSC management reiterated that they would remain vigilant in protecting the patients and their loved ones from Covid-19, by continuing their efforts in maintaining screening measures on all their staff, patients and visitors entering the hospital since the beginning of the pandemic.
It added that all in-patients and patients were to be screened with a rapid antigen test before admission into the hospital. —DayakDaily
