Another doctor infected with coronavirus at Karachi hospital

KARACHI: A female doctor at Karachi’s Abbasi Shaheed Hospital has been infected with novel coronavirus, sparking concerns among other medics, paramedics and nurses forced to tend COVID-19 patients without personal protective equipment (PPE), ARY News reported on Saturday.

The hospital administration has allowed the coronavirus-affected medic to get herself admitted in a private hospital for treatment.

Senior director health services Dr Salma Kausar said the health staff discharging duties with the affected doctor have been instructed to self-isolate themselves in their homes for 14 days and take a COVID-19 test.

She said the doctor’s spouse, a healthcare professional at the Civil Hospital, has also been diagnosed with the virus. She said he was performing duties at the Karachi airport where he may have caught the disease while screening passengers.

Dr Salma Kausar said health workers of Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) hospitals are being provided with safety kits to protect them from contracting the deadly virus.

Earlier on March 28, a doctor was diagnosed with novel coronavirus (COVID-19) at an Islamabad hospital.

The affected doctor belonged to Gilgit Baltistan and had no foreign travel history. The Islamabad administration had decided to seal the hostel where he had been staying. Medics who had been staying at the hostel were asked to undergo a 14-day quarantine.