With 5 COVID-19 cases, Quezon island town shuts door to outsiders

LUCENA CITY, Philippines – With five coronavirus or COVID-19 cases recorded within a week, the local government of the island town of Alabat in Quezon province has temporarily barred outsiders from the locality.

The local government of Alabat declared on its Facebook that the municipal inter-agency task force has decided to temporarily prevent the return of “locally stranded individuals” starting Sunday (June 28) while the authorities has been conducting aggressive contact tracing to stop the spread of the virus. The local government explained that the town’s isolation facility has limited capacity.

“Those allowed to enter the town are only those ‘authorized persons outside residence’ (APOR),” the authorities stressed.

On Friday, three more COVID-19 cases were recorded in Alabat town, located on the island of the same name.

The local government identified them as a 52-year-old woman with symptoms; a 27-year-old man without symptoms; and a 20-year-old man, also without symptoms.

The three were infected from the town’s “Patient #1”, a case recorded on June 20. “Patient #2” was also infected by the first patient.

On Friday morning, the Quezon public information office (QPIO) said a COVID-19 patient from Alabat died but did not specify if the fatality was “Patient #1” or “Patient #2”. Alabat remains with four active COVID-19 cases.

The first COVID-19 case of the neighboring town of Perez, also located on the island, was also infected from Alabat’s “Patient #1.”

Only the town of Quezon, also in the island, remains COVID-19 free.

/MUF