MANILA, Philippine—Philippine National Police chief Gen. Guillermo Eleazar on Monday (July 19) ordered police in Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi to help tighten intelligence work and increase coastal patrols to prevent the entry of Delta variant carriers through the country’s so-called southern backdoor.
In a statement, Eleazar said he visited on Sunday (July 18) policemen stationed in Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi to check security preparedness and also readiness against the entry of Delta variant, formerly called Indian variant, a more transmissible mutation of the SARS Cov2 virus that causes COVID-19.
He said the spread of Delta variant was now a serious problem in Indonesia “our neighbor.”
He ordered police and the Maritime Group to coordinate with local government units, Armed Forces of the Philippines and Philippine Coast Guard, to enforce tighter border controls and seal Mindanao’s boundaries against illegal entry.
Indonesia has become the new epicenter of the pandemic, now with world’s highest number of new infections, as the highly transmissible Delta variant continues to spread. The Delta variant, which was first detected in India, is fastly becoming the dominant strain worldwide. Indonesia is recording an average of 50,000 new COVID cases a day attributed to the Delta variant.
The Philippine government has barred travelers from Indonesia from entry from July 16 to 31.
A total of 35 Delta variant cases has been so far recorded in the Philippines.
Eleazar said he also ordered the Administrative Support for COVID-19 Task Force to brace for the worst case scenario by preparing medical equipment, facilities and supplies for policemen.
“Simultaneous with this is an order to make sure our policemen who are deployed to the frontlines are safe through determining and supplying their needs,” Eleazar said in Filipino.
In March, medical and quarantine facilities for PNP personnel at Camp Crame in Quezon City were nearly filled due to a sudden surge of COVID-19 cases in the PNP.
Eleazar also sought the cooperation of the public by heeding minimum health protocols.