While Zvīdris didn't reveal how many hospital employees were tested, in one case a medical worker tested positive.
"We had no reason to quarantine the remaining employees. They were tested for prophylactic reasons only because they were at work at the same time as their colleague who became ill, but they had no direct contact," Zvīdris said.
The surgeon who tested positive was revealed to have first observed symptoms on March 19. She went into self-isolation but when she went to the hospital to undergo regular testing – at a time when the disease situation in the country was wildly different, – she was also subjected to a Covid-19 test which turned out positive.
The second employee however had no symptoms. Data about the patients has been forwarded to the Disease Prevention and Control Center so that they could ascertain any persons the medics have had contacts with.
It also emerged March 27 that a total of three medics have tested positive for Covid-19 at the hospital.
However, Health Minister Ilze Viņķele told Delfi that twenty-six contact persons have been identified so far, with seven healthcare specialists among them. It is assumed they all have to go into self-isolation.
More than 60 people have been tested after the news broke out, Viņķele said.
It is suspected the disease had been brought into the hospital by a patient.
