Only 1 active COVID-19 case left in Lucena

LUCENA CITY––This capital city of Quezon province has only one remaining active COVID-19 case as of Dec. 20, health authorities said Tuesday.

Citing the latest report from the City Health Office (CHO), the City Public Information Office (PIO) disclosed that five COVID-19 patients have recovered, leaving only one battling the virus. The highest single-day tally was on Oct. 13, with 572 active cases.

The CHO logged seven COVID-19 cases from Dec. 1 to 20. In November, it recorded 38 patients, a big drop from 627 in October and 880 in September.

With the drop of COVID-19 cases, Mayor Roderick Alcala has allowed children to visit two shopping malls in this city starting Dec. 21.

But Alcala urged the public to continue practicing basic health protocols, like wearing masks and physical distancing.

Quezon province and Lucena, classified as a highly urbanized city, were under the less stringent Alert Level 2 until the end of the year.

The province had one new COVID-19 case on the island town of Alabat on Monday, the IPHO said in its 5 p.m. bulletin.

Aside from five recovered patients in Lucena, the IPHO also listed two healed in Antonio and Sariaya towns.

The IPHO logged 43 COVID-19 patients from Dec. 1 to 20 in the province. In November, the IPHO recorded 211 new COVID-19 cases, 2,115 in October, and 5,342 in September.

The active COVID-19 cases in the province dropped to 18 on Dec. 20 from 2,570 on Sept. 21.

Thirty-one of the 41 local governments in the province no longer have COVID-19 patients.

The data show that Lucena and five towns (Buenavista, Alabat, Lopez, San Antonio, and Sariaya) have one patient each; Guinyangan and Mauban with two each, and Tayabas City and Polillo with four each.

The COVID-19 death toll in Quezon stands at 1,479, with Lucena topping the list at 223.

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