COVID-19 surge in Batangas: 171 new cases recorded in single day

LUCENA CITY – The province of Batangas recorded 171 new coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases on Saturday, March 27, indicating that the surge of new virus carriers continues amid tightening of health and safety restrictions by the national government in some areas and various local government units in their respective territories.

Among the new cases is Batangas 2nd District Rep. Raneo Abu who announced testing positive for COVID-19 on Saturday after undergoing a swab test last March 25.

The province’s Public Information Office (PIO) on Saturday announced on social media that a total of 14,922 COVID-19 cases have so far been recorded since the pandemic erupted in March last year.

From March 1 to 27 this year, a total of 1,916 cases were recorded compared to only 543 in February. The province has 1,587 current active cases, which were only 333 on March 1. Batangas has so far recorded 12,880 recoveries.

The COVID-19 death toll in the province jumped to 455 after the provincial health office (PHO) reported the deaths of two confirmed virus carriers in Lipa City and San Luis town.

The data showed that 91 virus carriers had died due to the illness since the start of 2021. Last year, the province recorded 364 COVID-19 deaths.

The PHO report showed that Lipa City topped the list of localities in the province with the highest number of current active virus carriers at 426.

Batangas City, the provincial capital, posted the highest recorded number of COVID-19 cases with 2,703 followed by Lipa, which had 1,986.

The PHO has also listed 1,611 active “suspect” cases who are awaiting validation if they are virus carriers or not.

At least 13 towns among 34 localities in the province had already been declared as under modified general community quarantine (MGCQ) status, according to the Batangas PIO.

On March 22, Batangas Gov. Hermilando Mandanas, in his Executive Order No. 2HIM-10, said he wants to place the entire province under the stricter GCQ status to curb the rise of COVID-19 cases. The Regional IATF is yet to act on the matter.

On March 27, the national IATF placed the National Capital Region, Cavite, Laguna, Rizal and Bulacan under the strictest enhanced community quarantine starting March 29 to April 4.

The IATF also directed highly urbanized cities, independent component cities in Batangas, Quezon, and of Region III and the Cordillera Administrative Region to immediately implement enhanced Prevent – Detect – Isolate – Treat – Reintegrate (PDITR) to measures to limit mobility and minimize delays in case detection, contact tracing, and isolation/quarantine.