The Bellevue Hospital in Kingston.
The Ministry of Health and Wellness has advised of an outbreak of COVID-19 at the Bellevue Hospital in Kingston with 23 confirmed cases among patients and staff members.
In a news release, the ministry said it was working with the South East Regional Health Authority to contain the spread of the deadly coronavirus following the recent discovery of a cluster of cases at the institution.
Up to the weekend, 21 of 29 patients tested and two of 23 staff members tested had returned positive results for COVID-19, the ministry said.
The public health team has since gone into the institution where a range of infection prevention and control measures are now in place. They include the separation of patients who have tested positive from those who have tested negative; testing on wards that share a common area with the ward on which the cluster of cases was detected; symptomatic surveillance of all other wards, with the testing of all symptomatic persons; and the restriction of interaction among staff and patients from different wards, the ministry said.