Around 15 medical staff including doctors and nurses of Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology in Thiruvananthapuram have been placed under observation for COVID-19 after they came in contact with a fellow doctor who tested positive for the coronavirus on March 15.

Sree Chitra’s medical superintendent, senior doctors from radiology, anaesthesia, neurosurgery, vascular surgery and pediatric cardiac surgery have been asked to go on leave and observe home quarantine for 14 days. The quarantined persons also include technical staff working in the hospital, according to reports.

The mass quarantine has reportedly affected the functioning of the hospital with all non-emergency surgeries postponed for the time being.

On March 1, the COVID-19 positive doctor landed in Thiruvananthapuram from Spain where he had gone to attend a short course. From March 1 to 11, the doctor had visited the hospital, examined patients and entered the radiology and Cath labs. While he reportedly did not have any contact with patients on March 6 and 7, the doctor reported his travel history to the hospital authorities on March 8 when he developed a sore throat.

However, the doctor was not instructed to self-quarantine as Spain had not been in the list of vulnerable countries with higher cases of the virus then. For the next two days, the doctor attended the outpatient clinic until he was home quarantined on March 12.

On March 14, he was moved to the isolation ward and his test results returned positive on the following day. 

Apart from the medical staff who came in contact with the infected doctor during his 10 days in the hospital, 20 patients who interacted with him are also being observed, according to local media reports.

Further, 183 persons who travelled with the doctor on the same flight from Spain to Kerala are now being observed by the health department. Of them, 27 persons have been categorised as high risk as they were seated close to the doctor. \