MANILA, Philippines — The number of cases of the coronavirus disease among the personnel of the Philippine National Police (PNP) has increased to 315, including four deaths and 163 recoveries.
Among the 205,000 PNP personnel, a total of 677 are considered COVID-19 suspects and 696 are probable cases as of Sunday, according to PNP chief Gen. Archie Gamboa.
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In a press briefing on Monday, Gamboa said no new deaths were reported among the PNP ranks due to COVID-19 since April.
Among the 163 patients who have recovered, 109 have yet to complete the required quarantine period while 54 cases have been declared as “completely recovered” from the illness.
“As our agency was tasked to man security checkpoints, the risk of contracting COVID-19 was seemingly inevitable. Evaluating the situation at hand, the PNP leadership ensures that COVID-19 rapid testing and swabbing are in place to ensure that infected personnel are immediately isolated to undergo the recovery process,” Gamboa said in his speech before PNP personnel during the flag raising ceremony at Camp Crame in Quezon City.
The PNP launched on May 26 the Reverse Transmission – Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) facility of the PNP Crime Laboratory for COVID-19 testing, after it passed all requirements of the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) and the Department of Health (DOH).
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