MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine National Police on Wednesday said that a 45-year-old police officer assigned in Central Visayas became its ninth virus fatality.
PNP chief Gen. Archie Gamboa said that the police had 518 COVID-infected personnel, 313 of whom have recovered, while 160 remain in quarantine.
In a radio interview, Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said more policemen and military personnel could be deployed to Cebu City to enforce the lockdown since it has 4,000 active cases.
Año, who is vice chairman of the National Task Force against COVID-19, said that he and the task force’s chief implementer, presidential adviser on the peace process Carlito Galvez Jr., would also look into the surge of cases in Leyte, that has been attributed to returning residents and repatriated overseas Filipino workers who bypassed quarantine protocols.
—Jeannette I. Andrade