Covid-19 outbreak hits Gibraltar Elderly Residential Service

Mount Alvernia home lit in purple for World Alzheimer’s Day

Mount Alvernia home lit in purple for World Alzheimer’s Day Credit: Twitter

THE Gibraltar Government has announced that a major outbreak of Covid-19 infection has hit its Elderly Residential Service (ERS).

There are currently a total of 48 residents who have tested positive of whom 39 are at Mount Alvernia, four at the Jewish Home and five at the John Macintosh Home.

Although most residents and staff were asymptomatic (were not showing symptoms), these cases have been detected due to the rigorous swabbing screening programme in place.

The Government spokesperson said that since the early days of this pandemic, the dedicated teams at ERS have worked tirelessly to put in place meticulous infection prevention measures, which are updated regularly, to curtail the spread of the virus.

Furthermore, the ERS has been and is medicalised since late last March and currently the ERS medical team are active within the premises 24/7 dedicating time explicitly to those with the virus.

In addition to the PCR screening programme, ERS have introduced Antigen testing (LFD Innova), which is carried out on all residents and staff on a daily basis at each shift before entry to the premises.

This has provided an even earlier detection time for positive cases, reducing the spread and providing early intervention and isolation of both residents and staff.

In order to prevent the further spread of Covid-19, residents are being segregated into bubbles to safeguard and prevent any further exposure.

All positives, as well as their close contacts, remain in isolated areas. To maintain these bubbles, 30 beds have been added in Mount Alvernia and a further 24 in Bellavista.

Thank you for taking the time to read this news article “Covid-19 outbreak hits Gibraltar Elderly Residential Service”.

Written by

John Smith

Married to Ophelia in Gibraltar in 1978, John has spent much of his life travelling on security print and minting business and visited every continent except Antarctica. Having retired several years ago, the couple moved to their house in Estepona and John became a regular news writer for the EWN Media Group taking particular interest in Finance, Gibraltar and Costa del Sol Social Scene. Currently he is acting as Editorial Consultant for the paper helping to shape its future development. Share your story with us by emailing newsdesk@euroweeklynews.com, by calling +34 951 38 61 61 or by messaging our Facebook page www.facebook.com/EuroWeeklyNews

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