PNP coronavirus cases still rising, now at 754
MANILA, Philippines — Days after it sent some 250 men to assist in enforcing Metro Cebu's enhanced community quarantine, the tally of coronavirus within the national police's ranks, reaching a high of 754 on Wednesday evening.
According to the PNP Health Services latest tally, there are also 1,162 suspect cases within the organization to go with 677 probable ones.
Cases involving national police elements now make up 1.9% of the total nationwide cases recorded by health authorities, up from 1.6% at end June before the two contingents were sent to assist in Cebu City, where another sharp rise in COVID-19 cases was recorded.
On Monday, Police Gen. Archie Gamboa, PNP chief, disclosed that Police Regional Office 7 in Central Visayas had recorded 169 confirmed cases, 694 suspect cases and 156 probable cases, while the National Capital Region Police Office had 285, 450 and 89, respectively.
Nine cops have succumbed to the new pathogen.
As of 6 p.m. on July 1, there are also 357 cops who recovered from the virus. Some 38% of them are waiting out the required quarantine period.
"This is the reason why we had to deploy augmentation forces to Cebu. The PRO7 may have to adapt rotational deployment of its frontline personnel in lockdown areas because its effective strength will be depleted when some personnel will need to undergo quarantine," Gamboa said at the same press briefing Monday.
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"Take note that NCRPO has fewer suspect cases than PRO7, presumably because of the greater availability of testing in Metro Manila than in Central Visayas," he said.
"This is part of the reasons why we are preparing to put up another PNP-operated RT-PCR laboratory in the Visayas. We are closely monitoring the situation in other regions where there are emerging situations of a spike in COVID cases so that we can initiate a proactive response."
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