At least 26 residents of a Belgian nursing home have died since the visit of a volunteer dressed as Santa Claus, who has since tested positive for COVID-19. A Flemish health official told AFP on Thursday that it is still not certain that it was the visitor who brought the coronavirus to Hemelrijck’s home in Mol on December 5.
But 26 residents have died since the visit, and another 85 have tested positive for coronavirus, along with 40 employees.
The outbreak was detected a few days after the visit, and leading virologist Marc Van Ranst reported on Twitter that most infections came from the same source.
The figure of Sinterklaas, with a white beard and red cloak, the equivalent of Santa Claus in the English-speaking world, brings gifts to the Belgians every December 6th.
Photo by ERIC LALMAND / BELGA / AFP via Getty Images
This year’s festivities, however, were overshadowed by the coronavirus pandemic, which hit Belgium particularly hard, especially in its nursing homes.
No investigation was launched in the absence of a formal complaint, said regional health spokesman Joris Moonens, and there is no suggestion that the volunteer knew he was infected.
But a crisis manager was appointed to Hemelrijck – who housed 169 people before the COVID outbreak – to help employees, residents and relatives cope “in this difficult period”.
Belgium has one of the highest mortality rates per capita from coronavirus in the world and more than half of the dead – 11,066 people – were residents of nursing homes.