Covid 19 coronavirus: Nurse suspended for wearing just underwear under see-through PPE gown

A nurse on an all-male coronavirus ward in Russia has been disciplined after a picture of her wearing only underwear beneath a transparent PPE gown went viral. Photo / Tulskie Novosti

A nurse in Russia has been suspended after she arrived for a shift in the all-male Covid-19 patient wing with no uniform except her underwear under her see-through PPE gown.

The unidentified nurse, from Tula Regional Clinical Hospital which is 160km north of Moscow, told her employer the temperature was "too hot" wearing her nurse uniform under the gown.

While there were reportedly "no complaints" from her patients, hospital chiefs punished the nearly nude nurse for "non-compliance with the requirements for medical clothing".

The nurse claimed she did not realise that her underwear was showing through the PPE, Tula Pressa newspaper reported.

Her chiefs at first said the woman was wearing "lingerie" but later claimed she had a "swimming suit" beneath the gown.

A nurse on an all-male coronavirus ward in Russia has been disciplined after a picture of her wearing only underwear beneath a transparent PPE gown went viral. Photo / Tulskie Novosti

The regional health ministry confirmed that "a disciplinary sanction was applied to the nurse of the infectious diseases department who violated [uniform] requirements".

The nurse has not spoken publicly about the incident and the exact details of the discplinary action were not revealed.

One patient claims no one objected to the nurses outfit but did admit there was "some embarrassment".

A reader of local newspaper Tula News congratulated the nurse. "At least someone has a sense of humour in this gloomy, gloomy reality," said Sergey Ratnikov.

Another supporter said: "Everyone shouted at her, but no one paid attention that she was dressed in this way because of the heat.

"Maybe you need to yell at the management … because there is no normal air conditioning here."

As of Wednesday, there have been approximately 309,000 cases of Covid-19 reported in Russia, and nearly 3000 deaths.

The incident comes after the head of Russia's Covid-19 monitoring centre, a former TV doctor, Alexander Myasnikov, gave a blunt assessment about the virus.

"The infection will anyway take its toll," he said. "It'll take its toll. We will all get sick.

"Those who were supposed to die will die."