Princess Margaret Hospital announces two supporting staff members tested preliminarily positive for COVID-19
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The spokesperson for the Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH) made the following announcement today (August 25) regarding two supporting staff members who were tested preliminarily positive to COVID-19:
PMH was informed on August 24 evening that a patient care assistant who works in the Non-Emergency Ambulance Transfer Service (NEATS) section was preliminarily confirmed with COVID-19 infection.
The staff member attended the Accident and Emergency Department of Yan Chai Hospital due to headache and fatigue on August 22. Her COVID-19 test result was preliminarily positive on August 24 and has been admitted to the community treatment facility at AsiaWorld-Expo for treatment under isolation with stable condition. Her last working day was on August 21.
The patient care assistant is responsible for assisting point-to-point patient transfer service for admissions, inter-hospital transfers, discharges from hospitals and attending Specialist-outpatient follow-up appointments. She has not come into contact with any suspected and confirmed COVID-19 cases. Also, all patients must have temperature check before boarding the vehicles and wear surgical masks.
The hospital's infection control team conducted contact tracing immediately. As the staff member concerned has worn appropriate protective personal equipment during her duty, no patients have been classified as close contacts so far; while three colleagues who had meals with the staff member separately are classified as close contacts and need to be quarantined for 14 days.
Besides the above staff member, an operation assistant who works in the Accident and Emergency Department (A&E) of PMH attended the A&E of PMH due to fever on August 22. Her COVID-19 test result was preliminarily positive on August 24 and has been admitted to community treatment facility at AsiaWorld-Expo for treatment under isolation with stable condition. The operation assistant is responsible for transporting patients to the wards. She has transported a confirmed COVID-19 case in the past 14 days but has not involved in any clinical care and high-risk medical procedures.
The hospital's infection control team conducted contact tracing. The concerned staff has worn appropriate protective personal equipment. No patients are classified as close contacts. Two colleagues who had meals with the operation assistant separately are classified as close contacts and need to be quarantined for 14 days.
The hospital will provide all necessary assistance to the department staff, and has already cleansed and disinfected the workplace and the vehicle used by the staff concerned. The hospital will maintain close communication with the frontline staff, and will continue to closely monitor the health of our staff and patients and communicate with the Centre for Health Protection about the latest situation.
Ends/Tuesday, August 25, 2020
Issued at HKT 20:30
Issued at HKT 20:30
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