Two hospitals close fully or partly after staff test COVID-positive
ROC Central News Agency
05/20/2021 12:40 PM
Taipei, May 20 (CNA) One hospital in Taipei's Zhongzheng District and another in New Taipei's Xizhi District on Thursday announced full closure and partial closure, respectively, after they found employees infected with COVID-19.
The Heping Branch of Taipei City Hospital, located near Wanhua, the epicenter of the capital city's domestic coronavirus outbreak, said it has conducted full-scale screening of all of its patients and employees since May 13 after the hospital admitted two patients who were later confirmed as having the virus.
A first round of screening had shown all of them were COVID-free. However, the results of a second-round screening that came out Wednesday revealed that three of its employees and two patients are now COVID-19-positive, according to the hospital.
The hospital said it is possible that some of them were infected in Wanhua and that the outbreak did not originate in the hospital.
Due to an increase in confirmed cases, the hospital, which had already stopped accepting new patients and performing non-urgent surgery since May 13, said it is now closing all of its regular outpatient clinics with immediate effect until May 28, in an effort to prevent a further spread of the pandemic.
Meanwhile, Cathay General Hospital's Xizhi Branch in New Taipei said it has suspended its ER service after a doctor there tested positive for COVID-19.
The doctor had developed a cough and mild fever since Wednesday and was tested positive for coronavirus later in the day, which he probably contracted from a confirmed COVID-19 patient.
A first round of screening has so far shown that 89 contacts of the doctor, including coworkers and patients, are COVID free.
The hospital stopped its ER service at 9 p.m. on Wednesday. It will continue to run its regular outpatient clinics during the day, but has closed its nighttime outpatient clinics until May 28 with immediate effect, it added.
(By Chen Yu-ting, Huang Hsu-sheng and Joseph Yeh)
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