Bengaluru nurse on COVID-19 duty contracts virus

In the first-ever case in the city, a 37-year-old nurse (P928) on COVID-19 duty has been infected with SARS-CoV-2 at the Emergency and Trauma Care Centre in the Victoria Hospital.

The rest of her batchmates (the nurses with whom she worked for a week in the COVID-19 ward) have tested negative. She shared a room with another nurse during her quarantine period, who has also tested negative.

For latest updates on coronavirus outbreak, click here

She will be retested, as the Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute (BMCRI) Permanent Staff Nurses’ Association president Santhosh Kumar B has asked for the entire batch’s retest one week later.

Asked if she was infected because of low-quality PPEs, Minister Suresh Kumar, in-charge of COVID-19 press briefings, said: “The PPEs are of good quality. So are the N95 masks. There is no doubt about it.”

Echoing a similar sentiment, Dr Balaji Pai, medical superintendent, Emergency and Trauma Care Centre, said: “If the PPEs are of low quality, all would be infected. Among those who worked in the COVID-19 ward for a week, only she has been infected. She was a nurse from the PMSSY hospital, who had been deployed in Emergency and Trauma Care Centre for COVID-19 duty.”

Coronavirus India update: State-wise total number of confirmed cases, deaths on May 13

Santhosh said: “There are no secondary contacts generated as nurses travel in a bus to the quarantine facility. They communicate through the walkie-talkie and whatever they need is delivered to them without them coming in contact with anyone. So she was in touch only with the COVID-19 patients she was treating and the fellow nurses she travelled with.”

“We have asked for a retest as it is possible to test positive after testing negative after the quarantine period,” he said.