At least 47 residents and three workers have been infected with coronavirus at a retirement home in the northern Mexican state of Nuevo Leon, authorities said on Wednesday, in one of the biggest outbreaks yet reported in the country.

Nuevo Leon’s health minister, Manuel de la O, said the infections were registered among the 98 residents and 48 workers at the Casa de Retiro Luis Elizondo in the municipality of Guadalupe, east of the state capital, Monterrey.

He told a news conference that the average age of residents at the home is 84, that 40% of them had diabetes and 45% suffered from hypertension, calling them a “high-risk group”.

De la O later said that all 50 who tested positive for coronavirus were “stable” and that three of the residents had been taken to a hospital for treatment.

The home’s medical director, Fernando Coindreau, said staff began to notice symptoms among some older residents on Saturday before tests were carried out.

Nursing homes have been some of the worst-hit places during the pandemic, particularly in continental Europe.

Mexico has so far registered 27,634 cases of coronavirus and 2,704 deaths. Nuevo Leon, which borders the United States, has reported 909 cases and 29 fatalities.

De la O said that authorities believed the virus could have spread from a cook who worked at the home.

Reuters