One nun died and another 24 have been diagnosed with Covid-19 in a monastery in Alexandorupolis, north-eastern Greece. The Monastery of the Dormition of the Virgin Monastery in Makri was placed under quarantine.
One of the nuns reportedly experienced a rapid deterioration of her health condition on Friday and died of pulmonary embolism and cardiac arrest. Citing sources from the Monastery, media reported that the 47-year-old nun had underlying heart problems. “She initially developed some fever and her health deteriorated within 12 hours.”
Another nun was taken to the hospital of Alexandroupolis.
The cause of the infection is attributed to the harvest of olives for which the Monastery is known.
The cause is the harvest of olive trees. Our area is aggravated by the virus, with the result that workers, obviously asymptomatic, who undertook the harvest of the olives together with the nuns, are grouped together and the virus is thus transferred inside the monastery, the sources said.
“Due to the cenobitic and closed life inside the monastery, the virus spread easily and quickly,” the sources added.
The Monastery has 50 nuns.
