Canada: Vancouver's St. Paul's Hospital's neonatal intensive care unit hit by COVID-19 outbreak
British Columbia,/IBNS: A COVID-19 outbreak has been detected in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at St. Paul's Hospital in Canada's Vancouver, according to a notice from Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH), media reports said.
Soon after VCH shared the news in a facility outbreak bulletin on July 16, restrictive measures had been taken to prevent the spread of the disease.
NICU has been shut down and the patients transferred to a temporary satellite unit, said Shaf Hussain, spokesperson for Providence Health, which operates the hospital, CBC News reported.
St. Paul's NICU, separate from the hospital's maternity unit, provides 24-hour care for premature babies and other newborns with serious health problems needing specialized attention, said Hussain.
Hussain was uncertain if the COVID-19 had been detected in a patient or staff members nor could he tell how many people have been affected.
"We're working with the Vancouver Coastal Health medical health officer in leading the response to this exposure," he said.
The NICU is in the process of being thoroughly cleaned to prevent further transmission.
COVID-19 outbreak could have originated from a staff person who contracted the virus outside the hospital, said Dr. Brian Conway, medical director of the non-profit Vancouver Infectious Diseases Centre and added,
"It's a stark reminder that the virus is still among us; that the public health measures are there for a reason," CBC News reported
Key to understanding and preventing outbreaks, said Conway, was B.C.'s ability to get COVID-19 test results on the same day or the following day.
(Reporting by Asha Bajaj)
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