VISAKHAPATNAM: King George Hospital (KGH) authorities on Monday closed the morgue in the hospital premises after a Post Graduate (PG) doctor attached with the Forensic Medical Department tested positive for COVID-19 on Sunday.
A total of 20 primary contacts of the doctor, including five other PG doctors, five medical officers and some para-medical staff of the department, were sent to quarantine.
According to KGH officials, all the staff working at the morgue were provided with PPEs and precautionary measures were taken while performing autopsy on the dead bodies. It is suspected that the PG doctor had recently travelled to Guntur and returned to Visakhapatnam in a bus.
Soon after the doctor tested positive, his 20 primary contacts were tested for COVID-19 and all of them tested negative. However, all 20 were sent to quarantine as a precautionary measure and the morgue closed, Andhra Medical College Principal Dr PV Sudhakar said.
KGH officials said they will now be making alternative arrangements to conduct post-mortems on dead bodies.
Meanwhile, a PG doctor working in the orthopedic wing of the KGH too tested positive for COVID-19.