BY AARON RECUENCO
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A POLICEMAN from Cebu is the latest casualty of COVID-19 in the Philippine National Police, bringing the number of coronavirus disease-2019 fatalities to eight while a total of 499 cops were infected.
PNP chief Police Gen. Archie Gamboa said the continuous rise of COVID-19 cases in Cebu has prompted him to order a speedy construction and accreditation of a testing facility in Central Visayas.
“The last three (fatalities) came from Cebu so we are rushing the construction and accreditation of a testing facility there in order to address this,” said Gamboa.
Based on the latest data from the PNP Health Service, 43 more policemen were added to the list of those who tested positive for the coronavirus. The total number of infected since Day One of the lockdown is now at 499.
But the data also revealed that there were 288 cases of recovery which Gamboa said represents 60 percent of those infected in the police organization.
“A total of 155 of those who fully-recovered were already restored to full-duty, fit-to-work status,” said Gamboa.
“The rest of those who recovered are just awaiting completion of the required quarantine and monitoring period,” he added.
Gamboa said the high number of infected policemen was due to the continuous law enforcement operations and the police involvement in enforcing quarantine measures.
And in order to further protect the policemen from coronavirus infection, Gamboa said they are now reformulating police response procedures.
Based on the latest PNP data, a total of 661 policemen are considered as probable cases of COVID-19 while 85 are classified as suspected COVID-19 cases.
Meanwhile, the PNP is now revising its operation and investigation procedures to protect policemen from COVID-19 amid the continuous rise of law enforcers infected by the virus.
Gamboa said the safety of policemen was thoroughly discussed during a recent command conference as COVID figures showed that eight policemen have succumbed to the virus out of the 499 infected.
“Law enforcement operations during the 75-day enhanced community quarantine period and the continuing general community quarantine have exposed our police personnel to the risk of infection,” said Gamboa.
“We discussed lengthily the pressing concerns confronting the PNP in relation to the prevailing national health emergency, primarily on healthcare and force protection aspects as we adapt to the new operating environment,” he added.
During the conference, he said it was agreed that they will revise the PNP First Responders’ Manual to fit the new normal in which primordial concern is focused on protecting law enforcers from the coronavirus.
