Naas Hospital ward closure 'under review'

A ward in Naas Hospital is closed for almost a week now, after one staff member tested positive for Coronavirus. All patients in the ward that is closed got negative test results for Coronavirus.

The opening of the ward is under review by the HSE, but there are no positive cases of Coronavirus at Naas Hospital, says the HSE.

The 30 patients at the medical ward were tested after it was understood that they had been in contact with one positive staff member. It is understood that a staff member was also in contact with a person who had tested positive for Coronavirus, this person did not work at the hospital.

A HSE spokesperson said: “When there are two or more cases, this is a classification of an outbreak of Covid, and in this case there were two cases.”

The two positive cases are in isolation and are not showing any symptoms, and are both well, it is understood.

There are currently no positive cases at Naas Hospital.

The ward in question, is closed to new admissions, so no new patients can be brought in, and the patients are to remain there, until the ward will be allowed to reopen again, under public health guidelines.

The rest of the hospital is operating as normal and is quite busy.

It is not known exactly when the ward at Naas Hospital is reopening.

A HSE statement said: “It is normally 14 days after the first notification, it is under review until the end of the week.”

On Monday, August 10, Naas General Hospital confirmed an outbreak of Covid-19 on one ward at the Hospital. The HSE said there are no new Covid-19 cases.

A statement at the time on August 10,  from the HSE said: “The ward is closed to new admissions and the patients continue with their care and treatments. From the latest, HSE daily operations report, there is no confirmed cases of Covid-19 at Naas General Hospital and eight suspected cases.”