Twenty Months Into the Pandemic: No SARS-CoV-2 Infections Among Health Care Workers Managing COVID-19 Cases in Bhutan.

ABSTRACT

There is no international reporting of SARS-CoV-2 infections in health care workers (HCWs). Estimates suggest that a HCW dies every thirty minutes from COVID-19. This worsened the shortages and burnout of HCWs worldwide. Twenty months into the pandemic, Bhutan recorded over 2600 COVID-19 positive cases and three deaths. About 906 HCWs were directly involved in managing these laboratory confirmed cases but no infections occured amongst this group. This zero infection was possible through the clustered management of positive cases in four national COVID-19 centers, strategic deployment of HCWs, the uninterrupted provision of quality personal protective equipment (PPE) and repeated training on the correct use of PPE. This is an exemplary achievement for a small country with limited expertise and resources.