Control measures in place after patients on three wards test positive for virus

Authorities at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) have taken action to prevent the spread of COVID-19, including temporarily preventing visitors on three wards, after more than a dozen patients contracted the virus in the last week.

The affected patients have been moved to the Harrison’s Point Isolation Centre in St Lucy, while the QEH has implemented measures to protect patients and staff at the Martindale’s Road, St Michael healthcare institution, the hospital’s executive chairman Juliet Bynoe-Sutherland said on Tuesday evening.

In a statement, she disclosed that in the past week the hospital’s Infection Prevention and Control Department has identified 13 cases of COVID-19 infection among in-patients on Wards B5, C5, and C6.

“Following the identification of COVID-positive patients on the aforementioned wards, the Queen Elizabeth Hospital has taken a strategic decision to temporarily close these wards to visitors to allow for routine quarantining and testing of other patients recuperating in these areas,” Bynoe-Sutherland said.

“Similarly, to further protect staff and patients, the QEH continues to follow all protocols with regard to the phased mass COVID-19 PCR testing of the employees assigned to these areas. Additionally, as is customary in these cases, the sanitisation of these patient care areas is also being conducted.”

Bynoe-Sutherland made it clear that the hospital has put “all the necessary measures in place to address the issue at hand, including utilising the expertise of Dr Corey Forde who is leading our efforts”.

“The cooperation of staff, patients and the public are integral as the hospital seeks to implement the necessary infection prevention and control measures to arrest the spread,” she said. (BT/QEH)