MABALACAT CITY, Pampanga––Tarlac province registered 14 new COVID-19 cases, eight recoveries, and a single death on Wednesday, Dec. 1, data from the provincial government showed.
A day earlier, the province posted zero new cases, seven recoveries, and no deaths.
The new cases include a 10-day-old boy from Bamban town and a 14-year-old girl from Tarlac City. Both have mild symptoms and are under quarantine.
The latest fatality was a 45-year-old woman in Tarlac City.
Several Tarlac residents attributed the sudden rise of new COVID-19 cases to the free movement of people, including children, who are now allowed to go inside enclosed areas like malls.
“Everyone was allowed to go out when (COVID-19) cases went down. Now we should expect that and (the number of new cases) could increase. Children in malls do not even have face masks,” a netizen commented on Tarlac’s Facebook page.
Five of the new cases are from Tarlac City. The towns with new cases are Concepcion (2), Bamban (1), Capas (1), Gerona (1), La Paz (1), San Jose (1), Sta. Ignacia (1), and Victoria (1).
The province’s active cases stood at 98 as of Wednesday.
Tarlac City has the most active cases at 21, followed by Capas at 18, and Gerona and Paniqui at 11 each.
Since the pandemic began last year, the province has recorded 18,883 COVID-19 cases, of which 17,951 had recovered, and 834 had died.