New Delhi, June 4 (IANS): The All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) here has turned to be a 'hotspot' of coronavirus infection with as many as 479 persons -- staff as well as their dependents -- testing positive for the highly contagious disease.

A source told IANS that as on May 30, a total of 479 people tested positive. "This includes two faculty members, 17 resident doctors, 38 nursing staff, 74 security staff and hospital attendants each and 54 sanitation staff." The number also includes 14 labs, x-ray and other technical staff while the number of others (dependents) stood at 193.

However the source also told IANS that the AIIMS has scaled up its testing. "AIIMS has now started testing most patients before admission to wards and before taking to OTs. A new rapid test, called CBNAAT, which gives results in 2 hours is now available at AIIMS. This may help to reduce exposure of healthcare workers in hospitals. Last month and before, very few patients and with symptoms were tested. Many patients tested positive in wards when they were tested in view of symptoms," said the source.

He also added that the new machine for testing is available for Emergency department too, so that emergency patients can be tested.

"As such it is highly possible that the number is because AIIMS has resources and cares for its employees, and is able to scale up its testing. More the testing, more the diagnosed healthcare workers. Masks and PPE are of good quality but the problem is that they don't seal properly. So from around the margins of masks, aerosols can enter. There should be a proper sealing test and different sizes of masks should be made available on a person to person basis," said the source.

On May 25, a senior sanitation supervisor posted at Rajkumari Amrit Kaur OPD in the AIIMS had died from Covid-19. A mess worker of the AIIMS also lost his life due to the disease on May 22.