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PUNE: About 40 surgeons and resident doctors of a prominent medical college in Pimpri were quarantined after a trauma patient they performed an emergency surgery upon turned positive for the novel coronavirus infection (Covid-19) on Saturday night.

The patient had hidden his travel history at the time of admission. It was later learnt that he had attended the Tablighi Jamaat meet in Nizamuddin, New Delhi.

“We have shifted the patient to YCM hospital in Pimpri after he tested positive for Covid-19 on Saturday night. We have also sent the throat swab samples of the 40 surgeons and resident doctors who had come in contact with him to the National Institute of Virology (NIV). They have been quarantined in separate rooms in one of the hospital’s floors,” a senior official of the medical college-cum-hospital said.

The patient, an autorickshaw driver from Khadki, was taken to the hospital on March 31 after he had met with an accident and sustained internal bleeding. It was when he developed fever two days later that the doctors questioned his mother, who revealed that he had attended the Tablighi Jamaat congregation in New Delhi.

40 doctors in quarantine after TJ meet attendee tests +ve

A hospital official said, “We had asked him and his family members about his recent travel history, but they said he had none. A team of doctors, assisted by nurses, performed an emergency surgery involving resection of a part of his damaged intestine.”

When the patient developed fever two days later, the hospital staff became suspicious and questioned his mother. “She then revealed that he had attended the Tablighi Jamaat congregation in New Delhi. We sent his throat swab sample on Friday and it turned positive for Covid-19 on Saturday night,” the official said.In addition to the 40 surgeons and resident doctors, about 30 other hospital employees, including nurses, attendants and cleaning staff who were exposed to the patient, have also been quarantined. Their samples have also been sent for testing.

Wockhardt declared containment zone

BMC declared Wockhardt Hospital a containment zone after 26 nurses and 3 doctors tested positive for Covid-19 over a week. Nobody can enter or leave the Mumbai Central hospital till everyone tests negative twice consecutively, a BMC official said.

Additional municipal commissioner Suresh Kakani said a team was set up under executive health officer to probe how infection spread.

