Quezon seeing COVID rampage with 231 cases in one day
Quezon province has intensified its vaccination program amid a rise in COVID-19 cases. Image from Facebook / Integrated Provincial Health Office – Quezon
LUCENA CITY—Quezon recorded an alarming 231 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday (Jan 12) that brought the number of active infections across the province to 955, health authorities said.
Sariaya town topped the list with 45 new cases of infection, followed by neighboring Tayabas City with 30, a report from the Integrated Provincial Health Office (IPHO) at 5 p.m. on Wednesday showed.
Wednesday’s tally listed 28 recoveries and one fatality.
The figure was a huge jump in just three weeks since the province only had nine active cases on Dec. 22 last year.
The sudden spike in new cases—as a possible result of disregard of social distancing during the holidays and amid the more contagious Omicron variant—prompted the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) on Wednesday to place Quezon under the more stringent Alert Level 3 from Jan. 14 to 31.
The increase in the number of infected individuals who required hospitalization was also starting to take its toll on health care workers.
Dr. Rolando Padre, director of provincial government-run Quezon Medical Center (QMC) in this city, disclosed on Wednesday that at least five doctors and five nurses had tested positive for COVID.
He said the infected health care workers were all fully vaccinated and had booster shots. They showed mild symptoms and were on home quarantine.
QMC now has 52 COVID-19 patients, 81 percent of whom were unvaccinated, Padre said in a text message.
QMC had four wards dedicated to COVID patients at the height of the pandemic last year. However, three of these were closed after the number of infections dropped in December.
“Now, three of the wards are open again for COVID-19 patients,” Padre said.
Dr. Tiong Eng Roland Tan, IPHO officer-in-charge, reported that three vaccinators also got coronavirus infection.
Of 41 areas in the province, only six towns have no recorded COVID-19 cases as of Jan. 12.
The local governments with active virus cases jumped to 36 from only six on Dec. 27, 2021.
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