ATHENS — Authorities on the island of Aegina in the Saronic Gulf locked down the Agios Nektarios Monastery after 16 nuns tested positive for COVID-19 and all of the 25 residents there were tested by a team from the National Organization for Public Health (EODY) to assess the spread.

Those infected were isolated inside the monastery while those who were found negative will still be quarantined for close monitoring, said health officials, reported Kathimerini, adding the monastery will be closed until Aug. 30.

In December, 2020 A 76-year-old monk in Mount Athos, which was shut down in November as the COVID-19 pandemic spread,  died from the Coronavirus leading to six monasteries on the peninsula being quarantined.

Athanasios Martinos, the monastic community’s Civil Governor,  told a local news website monks and people living in the monasteries weren’t always following health protocols to wear masks and keep safe social distances, leading to the facilities being overrun while he said that it wasn’t a problem.