Taking note of COVID-19 alarmingly spreading among the staff at Vijayanagar Institute of Medical Sciences (VIMS), a COVID-19 designated hospital in Ballari, Deputy Commissioner and chairman of the District Disaster Management Authority S.S. Nakul on Saturday directed the authorities to spray disinfectant on the entire premises.
As per the information provided by the Department of Information and Public Relations, as many as 19 health personnel, including doctors, staff nurses, lab technicians and postgraduate medical students, have tested for COVID-19 as on Saturday.
Following the Deputy Commissioner’s directions, VIMS premises were disinfected. “Nineteen health workers at VIMS have been tested positive for COVID-19 in the last 3-4 days. As many as 60 people, the primary contacts of the infected persons, have been isolated. The spraying of disinfectant inside and outside VIMS is under way to minimise the risk of the disease spreading to others,” Devanand, Director of VIMS, told The Hindu .
According to sources at VIMS, a majority of the staff that caught the virus were engaged in attending and treating the common patients that visited the institution with Acute Respiratory Illness and Influenza-like Illness. Considering the alarming rise in COVID-19 cases in the district and the resultant shortage of beds at the designated hospitals, Mr. Nakul visited the Trauma Care centre in the city and directed the officials concerned to get it ready before July 10 for accommodating COVID-19 patients.
