Two medics at Austrian hospital test positive for coronavirus

By Brenna Hughes Neghaiwi

ZURICH (Reuters) - Two medical workers have tested positive for coronavirus in Austria's university hospital Uniklinum Salzburg, the regional authorities reported on Sunday.

An anesthesiologist who had recently visited the Paznaun Valley in Tyrol, where Austria's first cases were reported and where 245 cases had been confirmed as of Sunday, tested positive after returning and continuing to work for four days.

A nurse in the hospital's neo-natal care unit, who had contact with the anesthesiologist, had also tested positive for the virus, a spokesman for Salzburg authorities said.

100 people have been put in quarantine, the government said.

Hospital areas affected include neo-natal care, facial surgery, anesthesia, and the ear, nose and throat departments, as well as an air rescue unit and the intensive care unit of one surgery department.

"This is a serious situation, but experts confirm that the ongoing operation (of the hospital) can currently be continued," Salzburg Deputy Governor Christian Stöckl said in a statement.

Austria's government previously said that parents of patients in neo-natal care were being personally informed, while other precautionary measures had been taken within the hospital.

(Reporting by Brenna Hughes Neghaiwi; Editing by Edmund Blair, Kirsten Donovan and Alexander Smith)