Suspected COVID-19 patients in Quezon now 112

LUCENA CITY – The number of patients under investigation (PUI) for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Quezon province has risen to 112 on Wednesday from only 76 suspected carriers on Monday, local health authorities said.

As of 5 p.m. Wednesday (March 25), the Integrated Provincial Health Office (IPHO) recorded 112 validated PUIs, three confirmed cases, and two probable casualties from COVID-19.

The IPHO did not provide other details about their PUIs.

Asked how many of the PUIs were front-liners in the war against the virus, Janet Geneblazo Buelo, Quezon public information officer, said the IPHO did not have the itemized records.

The IPHO, however, revealed that the latest two of the three confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the province were identified as a 54-year old woman from Lucena with no travel background, while the other one is a 26 year old man from nearby Sariaya town with a history of travel to Batangas.

Both of them had histories of exposures to PUIs “with high index of suspicion,” according to the IPHO. They are both confined in undisclosed hospitals and are stable.

The first confirmed virus carrier, a 35-year old male and also from this city had a history of travel to Thailand and Singapore. He was still confined in a health facility but also in a stable condition and asymptomatic.

The IPHO recorded two possible COVID-19 fatalities in the province.

One of them, a male resident of Sariaya, was immediately cremated after his death. The IPHO did not provide details on the other casualty.

The two patients, though considered as PUI, died without test results confirming if they were infected.

EDV