Quezon hospital extends temporary closure due to COVID-19 cases
LUCENA CITY – Due to the continuing surge in COVID-19 infections among its health care workers, a government hospital in Catanauan town in Quezon province has extended its temporary closure.
Dr. Rosaline Ojastro, chief of the Bondoc Peninsula District Hospital, announced in a public advisory on social media on Monday that the Obstetrics Ward/Maternity department of the medical facility will remain close until September 30.
“Our employees are getting sick and infected due to COVID-19. The said ward is temporarily suspended again its operations after another employee has tested positive for the COVID-19 RT-PCR (reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction) swab test,” Ojastro said.
She said the medical staff will have to undertake quarantine while the ward will undergo thorough disinfection.
The ward has been temporarily closed initially from September 16 to 18 only after several employees have contracted COVID-19.
As of Tuesday, Catanauan has recorded 55 new cases from September 16 to 21. The town still has 52 active virus carriers.
Catanauan also recorded eight COVID-19 deaths on Tuesday.
In Tiaong town, the local government has reopened Tuesday its 32-bed isolation facility in a public school in Barangay Lumingon to accommodate the rising number of COVID-19 cases.
As of September 21, the said town has 89 active COVID-19 cases from only 65 at the start of the month.
Quezon, which remains under general community quarantine with heightened restrictions until September 30, had been recording a surge in COVID-19 cases since March.
The Integrated Provincial Health Office logged 254 new cases on Tuesday. The IPHO has so far recorded 4,010 cases from September 1 to 21 or at least 190 new cases a day.
The figure has so far surpassed the 3,192 COVID-19 recorded cases last month, then the highest monthly tally since the pandemic began in March last year.
The COVID-19 death toll in Quezon rose to 1,174, as 16 more deaths were recorded.
At least 213 patients died from September 1 to 21, or 10 fatalities daily, the report shows.
The number of fatalities this month has so far eclipsed the recorded 193 COVID-19 deaths last month, then the highest monthly fatality since the pandemic struck last year.
The province currently has 2,570 active cases from only 709 on July 23.
/MUF
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