COVID-19 hits another QC religious facility, one priest dies – LGU

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MANILA, Philippines — Another COVID-19 outbreak has been recorded in a religious facility in Quezon City, prompting the local government to create guidelines on ventilation for buildings and workplaces.

According to the Quezon City Epidemiology and Disease Surveillance Unit (QCESU), 25 of 59 individuals in the Christ the King Mission Seminary tested positive for coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19. The coronavirus-positive persons were nine priests and 16 staff of the religious facility.

But QCESU also reported that of the 25, 13 are still sick as 11 of them already recovered while a priest died of COVID-19 complications on Saturday, September 18.

Consequently, the Quezon City government placed two of the seminary’s buildings — Villa Cristo Rey and Fininman Building — under Special Concern Lockdown (SCL) from Saturday.

This brought the total number of religious facilities in the city that were put on SCL to four, the other three being the Stella Maris Convent since September 10; Religious of the Virgin Mary since September 14; and the Convent of the Holy Spirit since September 15.

The Quezon City government also announced its creation of guidelines on ventilation for buildings and workplaces to prevent and control the spread of COVID-19.

“We will send these guidelines to building administrators in the city so they will learn how to better retrofit their facilities and make these more resistant to virus transmission,” Mayor Joy Belmonte said in a statement.

As of September 21, Quezon City has a total of 156,279 COVID-19 cases, including 12,427 active cases, 142,456 recoveries, and 1,396 deaths.

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KGA