MANILA, Philippines – The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) scourge claimed the life of a police officer on Thursday night, Philippine National Police (PNP) Gen. Archie Gamboa said Friday.
“Last night, we lost one. Namatayan kami ng isang positive he was not able to survive it,” Gamboa said in an interview on dzBB.
(Last night, we lost one. One of our personnel positive for the disease was not able to survive it.)
But Gamboa did not divulge additional details about the deceased.
The PNP chief assured that police personnel are provided with vitamins and protective gear while on duty during the COVID-19 crisis.
“These are sad stories on the part of PNP but nevertheless we have to do our duty on running the risk of being infected,” he said.
“Kami we give our policemen our personal protective equipment. Para mapangalagaan, nagbibigay kami ng vitamins at inayos namin shifting para makapagpahinga sila,” he added.
(We give personal protective equipment to our policemen. To take care of them, we give them vitamins and we are arranging their shifts so that they too can rest.)
Latest data from PNP showed 13 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the country’s police force.
In addition, 182 police personnel are considered as persons under investigation while 1,545 other are persons under monitoring.