Brussels, Jan. 2, (dpa/GNA) – At least 26 people in a Belgian residential care home have died as a result of a coronavirus infection following a celebration in early December, health authorities confirmed Friday.
After a visit to a home for elderly people in northern Belgium’s Mol for a Saint Nicholas celebration at the beginning of December, a non-staff entertainer was later diagnosed with the novel coronavirus.
Later, infections with the same virus strain were found among the staff and residents at the facility, where 179 people live, a spokesperson for the relevant health agency, Joris Moonens, told dpa.
News agency Belga reported 85 positive coronavirus tests amongst the inhabitants and 40 amongst staff.
According to Moonens, it is unclear whether the Saint Nicholas stand-in became infected in the care home, or vice versa.
“It is not established who infected whom,” he said, adding that investigations were ongoing.
It was also unclear, Moonens said, whether hygiene rules had been respected.
In any event, he said, the festivities should not have taken place.
“Everyone agrees it was not a good idea to organize such an event at such a difficult time,” he said.
GNA