Quezon logs UK, S. Africa variants; gov gets the virus

LUCENA CITY — The highly contagious UK and South Africa variants of the coronavirus have reached Quezon province, as six cases were reported by the Integrated Provincial Health Office (Ipho) on Thursday, the same day that Gov. Danilo Suarez announced that he tested positive for COVID-19.

Suarez, 78, said the result of the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction test he took on Wednesday showed he was infected.

He asked everyone who had come in contact with him to undergo quarantine and to have themselves tested should they exhibit symptoms of the disease. Prior to his infection, Suarez had been going around the province to deliver relief goods and cash aid.

Quezon, which posted 871 active cases on Thursday, has seen a sharp rise in infections in the first five days of this month, with 347 cases recorded. In April, 2,276 cases were recorded, a huge jump from the 825 cases in March and 342 cases in February.

Returning residents

Dr. Grace Santiago, Ipho chief, said in a local television interview that two of the UK variant cases were recorded in the towns of Lucban and Calauag, involving Filipinos returning from overseas. The three others were from Lucena City, Candelaria, and the island-town of Quezon, all of which she classified as local transmission.

Santiago said another COVID-19 patient in Lucban was infected by the South Africa variant.

Santiago, however, said there was no reason to be alarmed as she appealed to residents to strictly follow all COVID-19 safety protocols to avoid infection.

But the municipal government of Quezon had denied that the town had a UK variant case, saying the person concerned, while a native of the town, worked in Quezon City and lived in San Mateo town in Rizal province.

The provincial public information office, in a Facebook post on Thursday afternoon, said it had verified that there were no variant cases in Lucena City and the towns of Quezon and Calauag, contrary to Santiago’s announcement.

MECQ in Zamboanga

In Mindanao, the Zamboanga City government will revert to a modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) status starting Saturday as infections continue to surge for six weeks now.

Mayor Maria Isabelle Climaco-Salazar, in announcing the decision on Wednesday night, said the measure would be in place “until such time the menace subsides.”

Salazar said the imposition of MECQ was approved by the National Inter-Agency Task Force on COVID-19, acting on the request of medical front-liners “to prevent [the further] spread of coronavirus disease and provide them the needed rest and breathing space.”

She said the city had been tagged as a “high risk” area for COVID-19 in the Zamboanga Peninsula (Western Mindanao) region. The surge was observed starting the first week of April, she added.

As of May 5, active cases in Zamboanga City were 1,761, compared to the 37 active cases recorded on March 31. During the same period, 73 more people died from the disease, bringing the city’s total COVID-19 deaths to 254 since March last year.