Because of the rise in Covid-19 cases in closed-setting facilities in the city, Mayor Joy Belmonte directed CESU to be more proactive in testing and contact tracing.
THE Quezon City government has placed two convents under a special concern lockdown after they registered a spike in coronavirus cases in the past weeks.
Authorities said the Religious of the Virgin Mary Sisters (RVM) in Cubao and the Convent of the Holy Spirit in Barangay Immaculate Conception are now off limits after 62 RVM Sisters and 50 convent staff tested positive for Covid-19.
Dr. Rolando Cruz, head of the City Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit (CESU), said their team is in the process of looking into the possible cause of the outbreak.
None of the nuns were vaccinated because their inoculation date was canceled. The staff, thankfully, were fully vaccinated.
Out of 90 residents at the Convent of the Holy Spirit, 22 tested positive for Covid-19. An asymptomatic visitor to one of the nuns is believed to have been the source of the outbreak.
It’s been reported that one of the nuns has died in a nearby hospital; the cause was not revealed.
Because of the rise in cases in closed-setting facilities in the city, Mayor Joy Belmonte directed CESU to be more proactive in testing and contact tracing.
“With a tight lockdown, the virus is contained within the sisters’ convent. Maybe there is a lesson that we need to learn here, that is, not to take visitors lightly. Always assume everyone is [Covid-19] positive,” Belmonte told reporters on September 16.
CESU will strictly monitor closed-setting facilities in the city such as nursing homes, homes for the aged, rehabilitation centers, shelters for street children, halfway homes for victims of violence and abuse, hospices, and correctional facilities.
In May 2020, the Department of Health, World Health Organization, and International Committee of the Red Cross started coordinating with local government and agencies to prevent Covid-19 in closed-setting facilities.
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