United Christian Hospital announces positive COVID-19 confirmed case
********************************************************************
The spokesperson for United Christian Hospital (UCH) made the following announcement regarding an inpatient who tested positive for COVID-19 today (December 22):
An 89-year-old female patient was admitted to the UCH Accident and Emergency Department (AED) on December 20 due to a fall. She was transferred to the Medical and Geriatric Ward for further treatment. Medical staff arranged a COVID-19 deep throat saliva test for her according to established admission screening procedures, and the test result was positive. She was then transferred to the isolation ward for treatment and is currently in stable condition.
The hospital's infection control team conducted contact tracing and found that the index patient did not consistently wear a surgical mask properly. Six other patients who had stayed in the same cubicle of the ward with the confirmed patient are classified as close contacts and will be quarantined for 14 days. All of them tested negative for COVID-19. Patient admission and discharge of the concerned ward had been suspended pending the testing for the other 40 patients in the same ward, including two patients who had been transferred to Haven of Hope Hospital. As all the results were negative for COVID-19, the ward concerned has already been reopened.
All staff members working in the AED and the ward concerned were equipped with appropriate personal protective equipment in accordance with infection control guidelines. No aerosol generating procedures were performed during that period. Therefore, none of the staff members are being classified as close contacts so far, while contact tracing is still underway.
UCH will continue to closely monitor the health of its staff and patients and will communicate with the Centre for Health Protection about the latest situation. The hospital appeals to all patients to strictly follow the instructions of medical staff and wear surgical masks properly within the hospital compound to avoid increasing the risk of infection of medical staff and other patients, and affecting hospital operations.
Ends/Tuesday, December 22, 2020
Issued at HKT 18:54
Issued at HKT 18:54
NNNN