2 COVID-19 patients die in Quezon province amid surge of new cases

LUCENA CITY – Two more coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patients in Quezon succumbed to the dreaded illness amid a surge of new cases that brought the total provincial death toll to 266, authorities said Sunday.

In its 10 a.m. bulletin Sunday, March 14, the Integrated Provincial Health Office (IPHO) reported that two validated virus carriers in Tiaong and Dolores towns have died.

No added details were given on the latest fatalities.

The IPHO also reported that there are 38 new confirmed virus carriers, bringing the present total active COVID-19 cases in the province to 237 from only 202 from the last tally on Saturday, March 13 at 5 p.m.

At least 25 of the new COVID-19 cases are from Sariaya town. The town also posted the highest number of active cases among all localities in the province with 43.

However, the present 237 active virus carriers in the province is still a remarkable drop from the highest tally of 1,119 active cases in the twice-a-day count recorded on Nov. 12 last year.

Quezon, which is still under modified general community quarantine, logged 7,475 COVID-19 cases since the pandemic was declared in March last year. A total of 6,972 have recovered.

The Department of Health allocated 1,686 doses of the Sinovac vaccine, so far, for medical and health workers in Quezon province.

On March 11, authorities started the vaccination rollout at the Quezon Medical Center (QMC) in Lucena City using the China-manufactured Sinovac vaccine.

The vaccination of health workers in Tagkawayan, Infanta, and Lopez towns hospitals started on March 12.

/MUF