MANILA, Philippines — The Religious of the Virgin Mary (RVM) convent in Cubao, Quezon City, has 114 individuals — 64 nuns and 50 staff members — who have contracted COVID-19, according to a post on Wednesday on the city’s Facebook page.
All of the nuns were not vaccinated and all the staff members were fully vaccinated.
According to the Facebook statement, the Epidemiology and Disease Surveillance Unit (CESU) has started investigating to find out how the 114 individuals were infected.
The CESU chief, Dr. Rolando Cruz, said his team became aware of the situation on seeing the surveillance data recorded by the laboratory that tested the nuns and staff members.
“It was not us who swabbed them. They had themselves tested by another [laboratory], and when the result came out from the laboratory, it was recorded in the surveillance data,” Cruz said in Filipino.
“Now, our team is conducting an investigation and intensive contact tracing to get more details about the matter,” he added.
Cruz said that they were also investigating if any of the positive individuals had any close contact with anyone outside the convent, which was put on special concern lockdown starting on Sept. 14.
Meanwhile, another convent with 90 residents recorded 22 COVID-19 cases. That convent has also been put under special concern lockdown.
Quezon City currently has a total of 148,806 COVID-19 cases, with 12,491 active cases, 134,936 recoveries, and 1,379 deaths.
As of Sept. 15, the nationwide total of COVID-19 cases at 2,283,011, with 170,446 active infections, 2,076,823 recoveries, and 35,742 deaths.
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