Another cop dies of COVID-19; Victorias city hall locked down

MANILA, Philippines — Another policeman has succumbed to COVID-19.

Philippine National Police (PNP) deputy chief for administration Lt. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar said a 31-year-old police corporal assigned in Central Luzon died while being treated in a hospital on Monday.

Fifty-seven PNP personnel have died after contracting the virus since last year, 30 of them since last January.

There are 1,626 active cases in the PNP. Fifty of the patients are confined in hospitals while 1,576 are recuperating in quarantine facilities.

The PNP recorded 158 new cases, 130 of them assigned in various regional offices. Mimaropa recorded 38; Central Luzon, 21, and Metro Manila, 15.

Twenty-four new patients are from various administrative and operational support units of the PNP. Four are assigned at Camp Crame.

At least 20,769 PNP members have been infected since last year.

Eleazar said 19,806 or 91.89 percent of the patients have recovered from the virus.

A total of 12,425 PNP personnel have received the first doses of COVID-19 vaccines.

In Negros Occidental, Mayor Francis Frederick Palanca of Victorias locked down the city hall until tomorrow after 21 employees got COVID-19.

Twenty-four employees of the Negros Occidental provincial government were also infected.

Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson said they would continue to adopt a four-day work scheme at the provincial capitol instead of a lockdown.