COVID-19 death toll in Quezon hits 486

LUCENA CITY – Seven more coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patients died in Quezon, bringing the total death toll in the province to 486, health authorities said Sunday.

Of the latest COVID-19 deaths, three are from Lucban town, two in Candelaria town, and one each in the municipalities of Mauban and Calauag, the Integrated Provincial Health Office (IPHO) reported at 10 a.m. of May 23.

Lucena, the capital city of Quezon, has the highest number of fatalities at 88.

On May 5, the IPHO citing information from the Department of Health reported that Lucban town has two COVID-19 cases infected with the highly contagious United Kingdom (UK) and South Africa variants of the coronavirus.

Candelaria town has also one UK variant case, the IPHO also disclosed.

Further verifications of COVID-19 variants in the province are still ongoing.

At least 86 individuals died from COVID-19 in Quezon since May 1, the IPHO records showed.

The province has been seeing an alarming spike in COVID-19 cases since last month, which recorded 2,276 new patients compared to only 815 cases in March.

From May 1 to 23, the IPHO has recorded 1,735 cases so far.

IPHO chief Dr. Grace Santiago on local television last Thursday attributed the slowly rising COVID-19 cases to the complacent attitude of the public and non-compliance with the COVID-19 health and safety protocols.

She called on the authorities – policemen and barangay tanod (village watchmen) – to accost all COVID-19 protocol violators.

As of May 18, Quezon, which remains under the general community quarantine until May 30, recorded 12,203 COVID-19 cases and 10,656 recoveries since March last year.

The province has 1,061 active cases from 855 on May 1. Lucena has the highest active cases with 166.