LUCENA CITY—The province of Quezon found itself grappling with 56 new COVID-19 cases after the holidays, which seemed to confirm health authorities’ fears of a surge in cases following Christmas and New Year festivities.
The province saw a brief respite in cases during the holiday break.
The Integrated Provincial Health Office (IPHO), in its 5 p.m. bulletin on Thursday (Jan. 7), said that 56 new cases were recorded in the province, 10 of which were on the island town of Polillo.
Polillo had registered 13 new cases last Wednesday, too.
The highest tally of COVID-19 cases in Quezon was recorded on Oct. 31, 2020—921. Recoveries reduced this to 760 by the end of November.
On Jan. 4, the number dropped to 245, the lowest tally in the province during the Christmas break.
But the figure rose to 256 on Jan. 5 and 270 on Jan. 6.
Quezon, which is on modified general community quarantine, had recorded a total of 6,368 COVID-19 cases with 5,865 recoveries since the pandemic broke out in March 2020.
The COVID-19 death toll in Quezon stood at 197. Nine of the fatalities were recorded after Christmas and New Year.
As of Thursday, 17 of 41 towns have had no new COVID-19 case, down from 20 towns earlier listed as free of the disease.