The Vatican orders 700 test kits to look for coronavirus cases

The Vatican orders 700 test kits to look for coronavirus cases

Covid-19 has arrived in Santa Marta, the Pope’s residence. So far, 5 people have tested positive, but the fear is that there are more cases

From the other side of the Tiber river, an order was placed to the United States for 700 Covid-19 test kits. They were requested by the Vatican pharmacy and shipped on March 18. Among a number of measures that the Holy See has launched to tackle the pandemic, there is also this “warehouse” of test kits to quickly verify the positivity to the virus.

The person who helped with the shipment was Paolo Zampolli, the United Nation ambassador representing Dominica. On March 12, a first sample was sent to the pharmacy. The answer came back on March 18: the tests met the required quality standards, with the approval of Andrea Arcangeli, deputy director of the directorate of health and hygiene of the Governorate, chosen by the papal entourage as a reference point in the Covid-19 emergency. The order is for 70 boxes with 10 test kits each, for a total of 700 “Coronavirus Covid Rapid Tests” produced by Biozek, a company in the Netherlands.

In the Vatican there are 605 residents, so there is more than one test kit per inhabitant. For some, this is a sign that there could be more coronavirus cases than the 5 that have been so far confirmed. But one should consider that in normal times thousands of workers and guests pass through the Sacred Walls every day and that the State is around 44 hectares wide. Therefore it seems also probable that stocking up on test kits was a precautionary measure. The director of the pharmacy, Friar Binish Thomas Mulackal, who keeps absolute confidentiality, doesn’t provide any answers. A «No comment» comes also from Arcangeli. The coronavirus nightmare has put the Holy Rooms on high alert, and the entire Vatican almost in lockdown. Many offices have remained operational through remote working. If there is the possibility, employees make shifts to be physically present in the office as little as possible and they have been asked to take leave days. St. Peter’s Basilica and the Vatican Museums are closed to the public. Local newspaper “L’Osservatore Romano” has stopped printing hard copies, and has kept only its online version. Bergoglio’s trip to Malta, which was scheduled for May 31, has been postponed. And Easter, the culmination of the Christian year, will be celebrated “behind closed doors”.

The concern is particularly high around Casa Santa Marta, the Pope’s residence, where the virus has infiltrated: a high Italian prelate who works in the Secretariat of State has tested positive and has been hospitalised. Francis is surrounded by an anti-contagion team. His schedule has been organised so that he meets with as few people as possible. For some time now, he has had his meals alone in his room, and no longer in the common room, with his secretaries bringing him the food. In the morning he celebrates Mass in the chapel without devotees. However, although he canceled all public appointments, he continues to work and to meet with people in private, with his close collaborators always equipped with disinfectant products. Anyone who has an appointment with him, before approaching him, “must wash their hands with the gel”, a person who recently visited the Apostolic Palace explains. The staff has been reduced to a minimum: “only two people, one in each room, accompany the guests”. Every morning the “rooms are sanitized”, the source adds. “We were seated over a meter apart from each other, but with no masks”. Despite the cloak of fear “the mood within the Pope’s entourage is relaxed”.

On Thursday, the Pontiff donated thirty respirators to hospitals in the areas most affected by the pandemic. Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, the papal almoner, was entrusted with the task of identifying the facilities. And on Friday night, in the churchyard of the Basilica in a deserted St Peter’s Square, the Pope presided alone over a prayer service to “respond to the pandemic”, and gave the Urbi et Orbi blessing (the blessing of Christmas and Easter). An image destined to become history.

Source: https://www.lastampa.it/vatican-insider/en/2020/03/30/news/the-vatican-orders-700-test-kits-to-look-for-coronavirus-cases-1.38655619?refresh_ce