No COVID-19 deaths logged in Batangas in 1 day but surge of new cases continues

LUCENA CITY – For the first time this month, no death from the dreaded coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was recorded in Batangas on April 24 but the surge of new virus carriers in the province continues.

The Batangas provincial health office (PHO), in its bulletin issued at 3 p.m. Saturday, reported that the number of COVID-19 fatalities in the province since January still stands at 300 since April 23.

At least 183 deaths from COVID-19 were recorded from April 1 to 23, an average of eight fatalities daily.

Last year, the province recorded 364 fatalities, bringing the COVID-19 death toll in the province to 664 since the pandemic was declared in March last year.

Lipa City has the highest number of fatalities with 121, followed by Batangas City, the provincial capital, with 118.

Batangas province, still under general community quarantine (GCQ) status until April 30, has logged 21,803 COVID-19 cases and 16,904 recoveries as of Saturday.

On April 1, the recorded cases were only 15,900, indicating the continuous surge of more virus carriers.

Batangas City has recorded the highest number of COVID-19 cases with 3,766, followed by Lipa City at 3,297, and Tanauan City at 1,992.

The province still has 4,235 active cases.

Lipa City has the highest active cases with 1,110, followed by Batangas City with 659.

The province still has 2,884 active “suspects” cases and 81 “probable” ones.

Governor Hermilando Mandanas has reiterated the strict implementation of his order to temporarily reduce the number of employees in all departments at the provincial capitol to 30 to 50 percent to help curb the rise of more COVID-19 cases.

Some of the employees have been asked to observe work from home arrangement and maintain flexible shifts in their work schedule.

“These past months, the number of government employees who tested positive for the COVID-19 virus from the administrative, finance and social welfare departments, who are at the frontline of public service, have increased,” Edwin Zabarte, Batangas public information officer, disclosed on social media.

He did not provide the specific number on infected provincial government workers.

Mandanas also ordered the strict implementation of safety protocols under the latest guidelines from the national Inter-Agency Task Force to curb COVID-19 cases.

The governor also ordered the construction of more isolation facilities in strategic areas in the province to contain the continuous spike of new virus carriers.