EPD camp locked down after coronavirus infects 24 cops

The headquarters of the Eastern Police District (EPD) has been placed on a three-day lockdown after 24 of its police officers tested positive for the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

The lockdown, which was confirmed to the Inquirer by the EPD director, Police Brig. Gen. Johnson Almazan, started on Wednesday, and made the police camp the second in Metro Manila to be shuttered in the last five days after some personnel were confirmed as COVID-19 carriers.

Thirteen policemen and one soldier earlier tested positive for the coronavirus at Camp Karingal, the headquarters of the Quezon City Police District (QCPD), which was placed on a three-day lockdown starting on Saturday to allow the premises to be disinfected.

It was unclear at press time whether the 24 officers from the EPD had been manning quarantine checkpoints—similar to the positive QCPD patients—or were based inside the headquarters on Caruncho Avenue in Barangay San Nicolas, Pasig City. But unlike Camp Karingal which is confined to a compound, the EPD headquarters is located right behind the Pasig City Hall, where scores of government workers have continued to report since the start of the enhanced community quarantine.

While the city hall and police headquarters are in two separate buildings, there are common areas in the complex such as parking lots and fastfood establishments across the street. The local government has not yet said whether it will also restrict entry to city hall.

The police officers who tested positive for COVID-19 from the EPD are now in quarantine, Johnson said. They were sent to either the special care facility at Camp Bagong Diwa, which is the Taguig headquarters of the National Capital Region Police Office, or an isolation facility in San Juan City.

At least 179 policemen have tested positive for COVID-19, based on data from the Philippine National Police. The EPD covers the cities of Pasig, Mandaluyong, Marikina and San Juan.