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530 UST Hospital staff quarantined over COVID-19 exposure


Over 500 staff of the University of Santo Tomas (UST) Hospital were quarantined after they were exposed to positive cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the hospital administration said.

The UST Hospital said its operations were hobbled by the quarantine of hundreds of staff, the lack of personal protective equipment, and the inability of some employees to report to work due to the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine.

“A number of staff [were] admitted as persons under investigation or sent home, or admitted as persons under monitoring (presently a total of 530 hospital staff including consultants, fellows, residents, nurses, and aides have been quarantined),” the hospital said in a statement dated March 20.

The hospital administration said they had consolidated several wards and instructed staff and trainees to observe an alternating skeletal duty to cope with the temporary loss of staff.

“On a positive note, this week, we discharged a COVID-positive patient who was initially critically ill but now clinically well and fulfilled the Department of Health discharge criteria,” they added.

COVID-19 has so far claimed 25 lives with 380 people in the Philippines having been afflicted with the illness. — DVM, GMA News

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