LUCENA CITY –– The continued decline in the number of active coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases in this city shows there are now fewer “pasaway” (stubborn) persons in the locality, says Mayor Roderick Alcala.
“The remarkable drop in the number of active virus carriers in our daily tally only shows that there are diminishing ‘pasaway’ among us,” Alcala said in a phone interview Wednesday.
The mayor also attributed the sharp decline of COVID-19 cases to the strict safety protocols being implemented by more than 600 barangay community task force (BCTF) members.
“The BCTF has played a very important role in lowering the city’s COVID-19 cases,” Alcala explained.
Since Dec. 7, the BCTF has been conducting regular patrols in the city’s 33 villages to arrest violators of the city ordinance requiring the wearing of face masks and distancing of at least one meter.
Violators of the ordinance are required to render three hours of community service as a penalty for the first offense. The second offense carries a penalty of five hours of community service and a P500 fine. The third offense is penalized with seven hours of community service and a P1,000 in fine.
The city government provided four hotlines for the reporting of violations and violators.
As of Wednesday morning, the city has 43 active virus carriers, a remarkable decline from the 147 recorded at the start of the month.
The highest tally of active cases in the city was 279 on Oct. 21.
Last month, OCTA Research, a group of experts monitoring the COVID-19 situation in the Philippines, named Lucena as one of seven areas in the country classified as “high-risk” for virus transmission.
“We’ve already escaped from the OCTA radar,” Alcala said.
He urged city residents to continue observing the minimum safety protocols in the coming days. “With the cooperation of the public and authorities, we can all lessen the threat from this virus,” he explained.
The number of active COVID-19 cases in Quezon province also continued to decline.
In its 10 a.m. bulletin on Dec, 30, the Integrated Provincial Health Office report showed that there were 267 active virus carriers in the province, down from 287 on Tuesday afternoon.
The province’s highest tally of active COVID-19 cases was 1,119 on Nov. 12. It fell to 760 by the end of November.
Quezon, still under modified general community quarantine, logged a total of 6,156 COVID-19 patients since the pandemic was declared in March, but 5,682 of them had recuperated.
The COVID-19 death toll in Quezon now stands at 187, with the death of a patient in Calauag town on Wednesday.