Inpatient admissions suspended at Delta Hospital due to COVID-19 outbreak

The hospital in Delta., B.C., is not admitting new inpatients due to an outbreak of COVID-19, though the emergency department remains open and all scheduled surgeries will continue.

The Fraser Health Authority, which operates Delta Hospital, says patients requiring care outside those units will not be admitted ``for the time being'' in order to protect them from the risk of transmission.

Dr. Elizabeth Brodkin, chief medical health officer at Fraser Health, says 18 patients and 17 staff have been diagnosed with COVID-19 in the outbreak first identified on Sept. 16.

She says seven patients have died after contracting the illness inside the hospital, while several of the staff cases stem from transmission outside the hospital in the broader community.

Brodkin adds the outbreak is contained to a single unit and floor and no new patients have been admitted to that area since the outbreak was declared.

She says patients who need to be admitted for further care will be transported to a different hospital in the region.