LUCENA CITY — The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) death toll in Batangas province has jumped to 418, with at least nine of the deaths recorded this month, authorities said Saturday, March 6.
The Batangas Provincial Public Information Office, citing the latest bulletin from the Provincial Health Office (PHO) on March 5 at 3 p.m., disclosed that two validated virus carriers died in Lipa City and Rosario town.
On March 4, two more COVID-19 patients in Batangas City and Ibaan town also died.
The day before, three confirmed virus carriers from Cuenca town and another from the municipality of San Juan also succumbed to COVID-19.
On March 1, another COVID-19 patient from Lipa also perished.
The PHO report said a total of 54 virus carriers had succumbed to the illness since the start of 2021. Last year, the province recorded 364 COVID-19 deaths.
The province of Batangas, which will remain under the strict general community quarantine (GCQ) status until March 31, has recorded a total of 13,107 cases and 12,340 recoveries since the pandemic was declared in March last year.
The province still has 349 active virus carriers.
At least 71 of the validated virus carriers are confined in different hospitals, 182 in non-health facilities or community isolation centers, and 96 on home quarantine as of March 5, the report showed.
The province has also listed 828 active suspected virus carriers and two active probable cases.
Meanwhile, the Department of Health has allocated a total of 1,424 doses of Sinovac vaccines for use in Batangas province.
The vaccines from the national government will be distributed to the Batangas Medical Center in Batangas City (1,011); Batangas Provincial Hospital in Lemery town (184): “Ospital ng Lipa” in Lipa City (229).
Local authorities have yet to announce the schedule for the vaccine roll-out in the province.
Batangas Governor Hermilando Mandanas has declared that the provincial government has funds for the free vaccination of residents.