Yogyakarta: Covid outbreak at Saint Anne Convent, 55 cases among sisters and staff
The local and national ecclesiastical authorities closely follow the evolution of the situation, according to the principle of maximum transparency. The convent is home to retired sisters and young nuns who work in healthcare. Catholic victims of the pandemic are growing. President Widodo orders a partial lockdown in Java and Bali.
Jakarta (AsiaNews) - A Covid-19 outbreak has been reported in the Saint Anne Convent on Colombo Street in Yogyakarta, on the island of Java, a structure managed by the sisters of the order of St. Charles Borromeo.
In a single day, the swabs carried out inside the convent gave at least "25 positive results among the religious and another 29 among the employees" the superior Sister Yustiana Wiwiek Iswanti confirmed to AsiaNews.
One part of the building houses elderly or retired nuns, who, based on their age, are to be considered more at risk in case of new coronavirus infection. These are also joined by young and active sisters, who stay in the convent but work in health or social welfare facilities in the city. "There are at least 198 people in the complex - reports Sister Iswanti - considering the religious and employees, including nurses, assistants and administrative staff".
Since the beginning of the pandemic, the convent has applied strict protocols to avoid outbreaks within the community, also in consideration of the elderly population it hosts.
"Our congregation - adds the nun - is known for its apostolate in the social and healthcare sectors". Next to the main building stands the mother house of the Sisters of St. Charles Borromeo and, not far away, there is also the Panti Rapih hospital, the second Catholic hospital in Central Java inaugurated in 1929.
The news of the dozens of positive cases that emerged during a sweep check last January 27 raised understandable fears as well as determining a series of measures part of an obligatory protocol in the event of an outbreak.
Among those closely following the evolution of the situation is Msgr. Robertus Rubiyatmoko, archbishop of Semarang and the president of the Indonesian Bishops' Conference (Kwi) card. Ignatius Suharyo.
The heads of the convent immediately decided to adopt the policy of maximum transparency, combined with constant monitoring of the conditions of the nuns and employees. Most of them are observed and treated by doctors and nurses of the Panti Rapih Hospital in suitable rooms for isolation, also because mass hospitalization in the nearby hospital that welcomes non-Covid patients is not possible and would thus risk greatly amplifying the infections.
Meanwhile, the number of victims of Covid-19 is increasing throughout the Indonesian archipelago, even within the Catholic community. The latest in chronological order is Sister Florentina Sihombing, a doctor who in all probability contracted the virus on the hospital ward. Sister Elisabeth in North Sumatra told AsiaNews that "throughout the Christmas period, thousands of tourists flocked to Lake Toba, where the sister worked in the nearby Pangururan".
At the beginning of January, Fr. Fabianus Teddy Aer, of the congregation of the Holy Family in Kalimantan and a few days later tbrother Hardianus Usat passed away. The former archbishop of Medan and apostolic administrator of Sibolga Msgr Anicetus B. Sinaga also died again coronavirus. Other victims include Jesuit priest Fr. R. Maryono in Semarang and Brother Stevanus Prihana, a young Jesuit from Jakarta.
Faced with an escalation of infections and a vaccination campaign still in its infancy, President Joko Widodo has imposed a partial lockdown on Java and Bali, the two most populous regions in the country. Since the beginning of the health emergency in Indonesia, 1.02 million infections have been recorded, over 831 thousand healed and 28,855 official victims.
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07/02/2019 17:28
11/05/2021 14:19
