BJMP disputes reports Taguig City jail employee has COVID-19

MANILA, Philippines – Reports that an employee of the Taguig City Jail Female Dormitory at Camp Bagong Diwa has tested positive for COVID-19 are not true, the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) clarified on Wednesday.

BJMP Spokesperson Jail Chief Insp. Xavier Solda said this in a message to reporters after an organization asked the government to reveal the truth about the supposed COVID-19 patient.

“I received an information that there’s an organization claiming that we have a COVID 19 Case in Taguig City Jail Female Dormitory citing ‘reports’,” Solda said.  “It’s not true.”

Solda did not mention what particular group made the assertion, but a statement from the rights group Kapatid earlier said that BJMP officials should immediately act on such reports.

Kapatid said that they have received information that some sick prisoners have been brought out of prison to avail treatment in hospitals outside the camp.

“Kapatid presses (BJMP) to immediately act on reports that an employee of the Taguig City Jail Female Dormitory at Camp Bagong Diwa, Bicutan is sick with COVID-19,” Kapatid stressed.

“We are worried for more than 300 women prisoners at the city jail, including six women political prisoners. The ‘dormitory’, located at the fourth floor of the jail building, holds over eight times the capacity of cells made for only 32 prisoners,” they added.

The group warned that the prison areas would act as the perfect incubator for the latest coronavirus strain, given the congested areas and the lack of nutritious food being provided.

“Extreme congestion plus the lack of adequate nutrition, medical facilities, running water and even soap provide a perfect incubator for an epidemic in the entire four-story building and prison compound,” Kapatid explained.

“As we have stated, no lockdown of prison camps, including of prison personnel, can keep out COVID-19 when even the DOH admits there is now sustained community transmission. In China, the US and England, the viral flashpoint of transmission were prison guards,” the group noted.

As of Wednesday, the whole Luzon is still under an enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) due to the rising COVID-19 cases.  Health officials said that there are already 636 patients who have been infected with COVID-19, 38 of which have already died while at least 26 have recovered.

Around the world, over 416,000 COVID-19 cases have been recorded, while 18,507 patients have died, and another 101,090 patients have recovered.

READ: Luzon now under ‘enhanced community quarantine’ – Palace 

READ: COVID-19 cases in PH soar to 636 with 3 more deaths

The COVID-19 is a respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus that first emerged in China’s city of Wuhan in Hubei province in late 2019.

The International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses named the novel coronavirus as SARS-CoV-2.

Coronavirus is a family of viruses, whose surfaces have a crown-like appearance. The viruses are named for the spikes on their surfaces.