Quezon island town logs first COVID-19 case

LUCENA CITY – The island town of Alabat in the province of Quezon has recorded its first coronavirus (COVID-19) case since the pandemic broke out, the local government reported Saturday afternoon.

The local government unit on its Facebook page revealed that the individual was a discharged patient from the Quezon Medical Center in Lucena City. Report did not say the reason for confinement.

The patient, the gender remains undisclosed, was placed in an isolation facility upon arrival in the locality as part of the government safety protocol.

But the patient showed symptoms while in isolation and immediately underwent a swab test. The laboratory test result that came out Saturday morning turned out positive.

The local government has been conducting an aggressive contact tracing to prevent the spread of the virus.

The municipal inter-agency task force has also decided to place the locality under a “modified enhance community quarantine” (MECQ) status.

The local government barred residents from going out of their houses without the required quarantine pass.

Quezon, now still under general community quarantine status, has recorded a total of 146 COVID-19 cases, the 5 p.m. Saturday bulletin issued by the Quezon public information office (QPIO) showed. At least 107 have recovered, and 10 others died.

The province also has 29 remaining active virus carriers.

The two other towns on the island, Perez and Quezon, are still both COVID-19 free.