Brisbane hospital COVID ward still shut as engineers probe airflow

A ward at Brisbane’s Princess Alexandra Hospital remains closed, more than a month after a COVID-positive patient infected three health staff.

Two nurses working on the 5D ward contracted the virus from a man who had returned from India, sparking two separate community clusters that forced greater Brisbane into lockdown just before Easter.

Two virus clusters both emerged in the PA Hospital ward where it cares for COVID patients.Credit: Getty

The patient also unknowingly infected a junior doctor who assessed him for potential admission to the hospital on March 10.

How the staff members became infected remained a mystery to health authorities investigating the breach.

Genomic testing has revealed all three staff were infected by the returned traveller, although the nurses had no direct contact with the patient.

The 24-bed infectious diseases ward, which was closed on March 30 when the PA Hospital was locked down, remains sealed.

A Metro South Health spokeswoman said the hospital was waiting for the outcome of engineering assessments before a decision could be made on when the ward would reopen.

“The closure of Ward 5D, which is a 24-bed ward, has resulted in a need to establish areas within the hospital to treat the patients who would normally be treated in this ward, which does have impacts on the hospital,” she said.

“The engineering report is being conducted by an independent engineering contractor and is expected to be received in the coming week.

“Patients have been moved into other suitable locations in wards within the hospital.”

Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young said there was no evidence staff breached protocol on the ward and engineers were investigating whether the virus spread through the airconditioning.

“The advice was they could not find anything that had been done wrong by anyone, everyone had followed processes and procedures, and they were going to do a bit more work looking at airflow,” she said.

Health Minister Yvette D’Ath said the government would release on the findings, but would not necessarily make the entire report public.

“The work that is being done now with the internal review is about the environment,” she said.

“Is there something about that ward that led to a transmission and as the Chief Health Officer has said, maybe to do with airflow.”

A report conducted by Queensland Health into the Hotel Grand Chancellor outbreak which triggered the January lockdown was made public.

No COVID-19 patients are currently being treated at the PA Hospital.