LUCENA CITY — Another hospital in Quezon had to temporarily close its wards dedicated to the treatment of COVID-19 patients due to the continuing spike of cases in the province.
On Monday, September 13, the government-run Claro M. Recto Memorial District Hospital in Infanta town announced that their rooms for COVID-19 patients have reached full capacity.
“The hospital management would like to inform the public that effective immediately, Claro M. Recto Memorial District Hospital (CMRMDH) will temporarily suspend its admission of patients who are COVID-19 suspect or probable until further notice,” Dr. Corazon de los Reyes, chief of hospital said in a public advisory, a copy of which was posted on social media.
The hospital official said the medical facility “has already reached its full bed-capacity allocated for admission of COVID-19 patients.”
Emergency cases will still be accommodated but subject to referral to a higher facility, the advisory said.
“We shall resume our admissions as soon as our beds become available,” De Los Reyes said.
The CMRMDH serves residents of Infanta, Real, General Nakar towns and the municipalities in the Polillo group of islands in the northern part of the province.
On Friday, September 10, the Gumaca District Hospital, another government-owned medical facility in Gumaca town had also temporarily closed its doors for COVID-19 patients as they also reached full capacity.
Earlier, three other big medical facilities in the province – two private hospitals in this city and another provincial government-owned in Lopez town – have also issued similar public advisories.
Quezon, which remains under general community quarantine with heightened restrictions until Sept. 30, has been seeing an alarming surge in COVID-19 cases since March.
The Integrated Provincial Health Office (IPHO) has so far recorded 2,268 cases from Sept. 1 to Sept. 13 or at least 174 new cases a day.
Last month, Quezon logged an alarming 3,192 COVID-19 cases, the highest monthly tally since the pandemic began in March last year.
In March this year, the IPHO had 819 cases; April, 2,345; May, 2,413; June, 2,377, and July, 1,712.
The province has 2,424 active cases from only 709 on July 23.
Lucena City, the provincial capital which is under strict modified enhanced community quarantine until the end of the month, topped the list with 507 active virus carriers.
The COVID-19 death toll in Quezon rose to 1,089, as 10 more patients died on Monday.
At least 128 patients died from Sept. 1 to Sept. 13, or 10 fatalities daily, the report shows. Last month, Quezon logged 193 COVID-19 deaths, the highest monthly fatality since the pandemic struck last year.
The Department of Health in Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon) said Quezon recorded 37 COVID-19 Delta variant cases as of Sept. 5.