Lucena has 1 new COVID-19 patient

LUCENA CITY –– Four days after health authorities announced the recovery of all coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patients in this city, a new confirmed case has been recorded Saturday.

In its 8 a.m. bulletin, the Quezon provincial information office (QPIO), revealed that this capital city of the province logged another virus carrier.

The QPIO and city health authorities gave no other details on the new patient.

On Wednesday, local health authorities reported that all 29 COVID-19 patients had recovered.

The city, however, is still keeping watch over 98 suspected COVID-19 patients and seven probable carriers.

As of Saturday, Quezon province has recorded 84 COVID-19 cases, with 63 recoveries and eight deaths. The province has only 13 active virus carriers, all confined in a medical facility.

However, the latest record of the Integrated Provincial Health Office (IPHO), which covers April 14 to May 21, shows that local authorities are monitoring 63 suspected coronavirus carriers, who are confined in different hospitals in Quezon, and 90 others on home quarantine.

The latest record shows a total of 1,807 suspected virus carriers, but 28 of them had died.

At least 906 of the suspected carriers were already out of hospitals or finished home quarantine, the report stated.

The IPHO explained that the record of suspected virus carriers, then classified as “person under investigation” (PUI) from March 15 to April 13, were now excluded in their daily reporting under the “suspect” classification.

According to the IPHO, the said period listed 631 “PUIs” with 18 mortalities.

The provincial health authorities did not clarify if the fatalities under both “PUI” and “suspect” categories had been tested to show if they were sick of COVID-19 or not.

Authorities also recorded the deaths of seven patients under “probable” classification but gave no other details 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.

LZB