LUCENA CITY –– The provincial government of Quezon is set to activate the “Provincial Inter-Agency COVID-19 Task Force” as it intensifies the preparation to stop the spread of coronavirus disease.
“This is to ensure the protection and safety of the people against the spread of COVID-19,” said Janet Geneblazo-Buelo, Quezon public information officer.
On Wednesday, Governor Danilo Suarez issued Executive Order No. 13 in response to President Duterte’s Proclamation No. 922 that placed the entire Philippines under a state of public health emergency as the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the country continued to rise.
This meant that all local chief executives, public and private institutions, and other concerned entities in Quezon are ordered “to strictly adhere” to the Department of Health Interim Guidelines for 2019 Novel Coronavirus Acute Respiratory Disease issued on February 3.
Suarez and all Quezon mayors will also have an emergency meeting Thursday to further strengthen the preventive steps and capabilities of the local government against the threat of COVID-19.
As of Wednesday, Quezon province “remains COVID-19 free.”
The seven suspected carriers of the dreaded virus recorded earlier have also tested negative of COVID-19 and have been discharged from hospitals.
The individual, who was wrongfully referred by the Integrated Provincial Health Office in its public advisory last Saturday as another suspected carrier who also turned out negative after the laboratory test, should not have been classified as a “person under investigation.”
Dr. Grace Santiago, Quezon health officer, said the patient had “no history of travel and no history of exposure to confirmed COVID-19, hence not a PUI.”
The PUIs are those who recently traveled to mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and other countries with confirmed COVID-19 cases, who have consulted doctors due to cough, cold, or fever after they returned home.
The IPHO in a public advisory released Wednesday afternoon, recorded 89 possible virus carriers classified as persons under monitoring (PUM) in the province.
But at least 77 have completed the mandatory 14-day home quarantine period and remained healthy. The remaining 12 PUMs were still under home quarantine and close observation.
To date, the Philippines has 49 confirmed cases of COVID-19, a respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus that first emerged in China’s city of Wuhan in Hubei province in late 2019.