Quezon logs record-high 13 COVID-19 deaths in a day

LUCENA CITY –– Quezon province saw its highest record of COVID-19 deaths in a single day on Sunday.

The Integrated Provincial Health Office (IPHO), in its 5 p.m. bulletin on May 23, showed that 13 patients succumbed to COVID-19.

The latest fatalities are from Lopez town with 4, Lucban – 3; Candelaria – 2; and Calauag, Mauban, Tiaong, and Gumaca with 1 each.

At least 92 active virus carriers in Quezon had died since May 1, or an average of four fatalities daily, the IPHO records showed.

The COVID-19 death toll in the province now stands at 492. Lucena, the capital city of Quezon, has the highest number of fatalities at 88.

As of May 23, Quezon, which remains under general community quarantine, recorded 12,241 COVID-19 cases and 10,718 recoveries since March last year.

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 1,763 cases so far.

The province has 1,031 active cases from 855 on May 1. Lucena has the highest active cases with 181.

Dr. Grace Santiago, IPHO head, said the rising number of new cases could be partly due to the public’s disregard of health and safety protocols.

On May 5, the IPHO citing information from the Department of Health, reported that two patients in Lucban had the United Kingdom (UK) and South Africa variants of COVID-19.

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

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

LZB