Bicol COVID-19 death toll breaches 100 mark

LEGAZPI CITY — The coronavirus (COVID-19) death toll in Bicol has breached the 100 mark after three death cases were reported on Friday, the Department of Health (DOH) said on Saturday.

In a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) case bulletin, the DOH said two of the deaths are from Camarines Sur and one is from Albay. The new deaths bring to 102 the total of deaths in the region.

DOH has observed that the 4.2 percent case fatality rate (CFC) in Bicol was two points higher than the national CFC of 1.8 percent, owing to the majority of the cases being elderly people with comorbidity illnesses.

Albay province has the highest death cases with 30 followed by Camarines Sur with 23. The cities of Legazpi and Naga have 15 cases each while Sorsogon has 13, Camarines Norte has three, Catanduanes has two, and Masbate only has one death case.

Dr. Ernie Vera, DOH regional director, and Bicol Interagency COVID Task Force (BIATF) co-chair, said Bicol has recorded 2,376 confirmed cases with 1,898 or 80 percent being recoveries. Only 376 or 16 percent are still sick.

Of the COVID-19 active cases, the province of Camarines Sur has the highest cases with 137, followed by Sorsogon with 63, Naga City with 55, Camarines Norte with 35, Masbate with 34, Albay with 27, Legazpi City with 18, Catanduanes with five and others (not from Bicol) with two cases.

For recovery cases, Camarines Sur has 408 cases, followed by Albay (327), Naga City (369), Legazpi City (312), Sorsogon (178), Masbate (136), Catanduanes (98), and Camarines Norte (69).

/MUF