COVID hospital workers in PPE clothes pushing a stretcher. | INQUIRER.net stock image
LUCENA CITY––The COVID-free status of this capital city of Quezon province was short-lived Tuesday after health authorities recorded a new confirmed patient.
The Lucena public information office, citing the latest report from the City Health Office (CHO), disclosed that a villager from Barangay Mayao Crossing contracted COVID-19. The CHO did not provide additional information on the new patient.
On March 27 and 28, the city was declared free of COVID-19 cases.
On Dec. 20 last year, Lucena had only one remaining active infection.
But due to the public’s lax enforcement of safety protocols and the high transmission rate of the Omicron variant, Lucena reached another peak of 222 active cases on Jan. 23.
The highest daily tally was on Oct. 13, with 571 active cases.
On Tuesday, the Integrated Provincial Health Office (IPHO) recorded one new COVID-19 patient, a patient from Lucena.
Active COVID-19 cases in Quezon rose to six again from five on Monday, with 36 of the 41 municipalities in the province reporting zero patients.
The five municipalities that still have COVID-19 patients were Candelaria, with two cases and one each in Gumaca, Mauban, San Antonio towns, and Lucena City, according to the IPHO in its 5 p.m. bulletin.
Lucena, classified as a highly urbanized city, is under the most relaxed Alert Level 1 until the end of the month.
The rest of the towns will remain under Alert Level 2 until March 31.
Quezon has recorded 32,837 COVID-19 cases, 31,271 recoveries, and 1,560 deaths since the pandemic erupted in March 2020.