Public health authorities in New South Wales, Australia, believe that a radiology seminar in the country in February could be linked to two cases of the novel coronavirus disease COVID-19 in physicians who tested positive for the virus after the meeting.
Investigators said that 77 physicians attended the seminar on February 18. A doctor who attended the meeting, a registrar from Liverpool Hospital in the Sydney area, tested positive for coronavirus infection, according to a March 4 news report in the Guardian. The seminar has also been linked to COVID-19 in a doctor at Ryde Hospital, according to the article. Neither of the doctors had traveled overseas or had contact with known COVID-19 patients.
No other attendees at the seminar have shown COVID-19 symptoms, according to authorities. This is a positive sign, as the seminar was more than two weeks ago, and the incubation period for the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19 is believed to be about two weeks, according to an article on 7news.com.au.
The incident could represent the realization of the worst fears of many public health authorities and care providers: medical workers contracting coronavirus at professional functions.
Indeed, a wide range of medical meetings were canceled this week in an effort to prevent the spread of coronavirus among medical professionals. These include the European Congress of Radiology and the annual meetings of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society and the Society of Interventional Radiology.
