LUCENA CITY––Quezon province has recorded 27 COVID-19 Delta variant cases with at least five of them still active, health authorities reported on Monday.
The Quezon public information office (PIO) disclosed in its Aug. 30 bulletin that this city has three active COVID-19 Delta variant carriers, while Tiaong and Pagbilao towns have one each, as of Aug. 29.
“The three Delta variant cases have been isolated in medical facilities,” Lucena Mayor Roderick Alcala said in a phone interview.
Alcala said he immediately ordered all barangay officials to strictly enforce COVID-19 health and safety protocols to prevent the spread of the virus particularly, the highly transmissible Delta variant.
“There will be a strict and thorough screening of all newcomers in every village,” Alcala said
He appealed to the Department of Health to provide more COVID-19 vaccines.
At least 18 of the patients with the Delta variant in Lucena City, Dolores, Candelaria, San Antonio, Sariaya, Pagbilao, Atimonan, and Lucban towns had recovered, the PIO also reported.
Four patients from Candelaria, Lucena, and Tiaong died from the Delta variant, the PIO said.
The cases of five patients in Candelaria, Lucena, and Infanta will be further verified, if they have the Delta variant.
As of Aug. 30, Quezon, which remains under general community quarantine with heightened restrictions until Aug. 31, has 1,840 active cases from 705 five weeks ago, on July 23, according to the Integrated Provincial Health Office (IPHO).
Lucena, the provincial capital, has topped the list with 435 active cases.
The death toll also rose to 949 after the IPHO recorded seven fatalities from COVID-19 on Aug. 30. At least 188 of the total deaths were recorded this month.