6 ‘probable’ COVID-19 patients die in Quezon

LUCENA CITY — Health authorities in Quezon province on Saturday afternoon recorded the death of at least six coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patients classified as “probable”.

In a 5 p.m. bulletin, the Quezon public information office (QPIO), citing the latest information from the Integrated Provincial Health Office (IPHO) disclosed that under the “probable” category of COVID-19 cases, a total of six deaths have been recorded.

The probable category listed no more “admitted, discharged, cleared (home quarantine) and ongoing home quarantine” cases.

In its report issued at 8 a.m., the QPIO recorded three patients under “probable” classification. But two of them had already finished home quarantine and one is still isolated at home.

Authorities gave no other details about the six deaths or even the cause of their demise.

An individual is a “probable” case if his/her COVID-19 results are inconclusive, and he/she has been tested in an unofficial laboratory that does the confirmatory testing.

QPIO also reported the spike on the number of suspected virus carriers to 1,648, a jumped from their list of only 1,465 in the morning. At least 41 of the suspected virus carriers had already died.

But despite repeated questions coursed through QPIO, the IPHO has yet to clarify if the fatalities had been tested to show if they were really sick of COVID-19 or not.

Over 79 “suspects” who are confined in different hospitals in Quezon, and 109 others on home- quarantine are also being monitored.

At least 1,419 of the suspected carriers are already out of hospitals or finished home quarantine.

A person is considered “suspected” COVID-19 carrier if he/she suffers from fever, cough, or sore throat two weeks after contact with a confirmed case, or had visited a place with local transmission of the coronavirus.

Those who exhibit the same symptoms and belong to the vulnerable populations, such as the elderly, those with preexisting ailments, pregnant women, and health-care workers also belong to this group.

Quezon has 79 confirmed COVID-19 cases on record with the addition of another patient from Sariaya town that now has four recorded cases on Saturday.

With the recovery of 53 patients and the death of eight others, the number of remaining active virus carriers in the province is down to 18.

Starting May 16, the province is placed under general community quarantine status, the looser version of the enhanced community quarantine, until May 31.