Twelve patients admitted to the NRS Medical College and Hospital tested positive for Covid-19 on Saturday. A man who was declared dead on arrival at the hospital on Thursday also tested positive.

Of the 12 patients, seven are admitted in the gynaecology ward, one in the male medicine ward and four in the isolation ward of the hospital.

So many patients from a hospital testing positive on the same day left the medical fraternity worried over how many doctors and other healthcare workers would need to be quarantined because of their exposure to the patients.

An official at NRS said they had started the process to identify the doctors and other healthcare professionals who would need to be quarantined.

The official said the patients in the gynaecology and male medicine wards were shifted to isolation facilities within the wards soon after they showed symptoms of Covid-19.

“The healthcare workers who attended to them after that always wore personal protective equipment (PPE). It is unlikely that many healthcare workers would need to be quarantined. We have started the process to identify those who were exposed to these patients,” the official said.

The swab samples were collected on Thursday and Friday after doctors suspected they had contracted the coronavirus. The results came on Saturday.

According to the protocol, if any patient admitted to hospital for some other illness shows Covid-19 symptoms, he or she will have to be immediately shifted to an isolation ward for the safety of other patients as well as doctors and other healthcare professionals.

Enhanced protections are mandatory for healthcare workers in isolation wards.

More than 90 healthcare workers at NRS had to be quarantined after a patient tested positive in late March. Again in mid-April, over 60 healthcare workers had to be quarantined after another patient tested positive.

Both patients were admitted with other illnesses and showed symptoms of Covid-19 later.

A doctor at NRS said the hospital authorities had promised to test all healthcare workers who are attending to Covid-19 patients.

The doctor said, citing the Covid protocol, that a patient declared dead on arrival should be kept in the hospital’s morgue and his or her swab samples sent for tests. If the report is positive, cremation or burial has to be done following precautions.