30 March 2020 09:39 pm
Subsequent to the identification of a covert COVID-19 patient at the Teaching Hospital in Kalubowila, 15 patients and 20 staff members who came into contact with him had to be moved to the quarantine, the Hospital Director Dr. Asela Gunewardena said today.
He said the ward where the patient was found had to be closed. The 15 patients who had come into contact with the COVID -19 positive person in that ward had also been transferred to the Homagama Hospital while 20 staff members from the ward had been sent to their homes for self-quarantine of two weeks.
The patient who tested positive had arrived at the hospital on March 27 with a cough and a high temperature, Dr. Gunewardena said.
He said that upon inquiry the patient had mentioned that he did not come into contact or associate any person who could be at the risk of spreading the virus.
However, the patient had met with an individual who had arrived from Australia on March 11 but did not show any symptoms of the virus as of yet, the doctor added. (Chaturanga Samarawickrama)