Forty hospital staff in isolation over fears Sydney doctor spread coronavirus
Forty NSW hospital staff are in home isolation amid fears coronavirus may have spread from a Sydney doctor.
NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant said a 53-year-old male doctor was working at Ryde Hospital and had been in contact with a “diverse range of patients”.
NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard told the Nine Network on Tuesday he was in a stable condition at Westmead Hospital and “going quite well”.
Thirteen doctors, 23 nurses and four other health workers have been identified as close contacts of the doctor and are in home isolation.
A further eight patients of the doctor are showing no symptoms, while 29 other patients identified as casual contacts are being chased up.
"We are making sure we get in contact with them and make sure they don't have symptoms," Mr Hazzard said.
"It's a bit of a worry."
BaptistCare, which provides health care services for the elderly, also confirmed on Wednesday a worker from Dorothy Henderson Lodge in Macquarie Park has been diagnosed with the virus.
Five new people test positive in NSW
NSW Health is alerting passengers who were on five separate flights from Asia in the past week after two men in their 30s, a man in his 50s and two women in their 60s tested positive following their arrival in NSW.
The men in their 30s travelled from Iran, the two women flew from Japan and South Korea respectively, and the man in his 50s was returning from Singapore.
Meanwhile a woman in her 50s who hasn't been out of Australia recently has also tested positive to the coronavirus.
And health authorities are advising passengers who sat near a coronavirus-infected woman on a Doha-to-Sydney flight to immediately isolate themselves at home.
Will Coles and Woolworths run out of products amid coronavirus 'panic buying hysteria'?
The 13 countries WHO warns could be the next coronavirus centres
The woman in her 50s who flew into Australia from Iran on February 23 aboard Qatar Airways flight 908 from Doha was in seat 43H.
Another locally acquired case in Sydney is a 41-year-old sister of an infected man who recently returned from Iran where the virus is rampant.
In total, 15 people in NSW now have the virus.
Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com.
You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and download the Yahoo News app from the App Store or Google Play.
