MANILA, Philippines—An Army general has died of COVID-19, the military said.
Bagnus Gaerlan, a brigadier general and deputy commander of the Army’s 1st Infantry Division, died of acute respiratory failure secondary to COVID pneumonia early on Monday (Sept. 6), Western Mindanao Command spokesperson Maj. Aflie Alonzo said in a statement.
The general tested positive for coronavirus last Sept. 2 and was brought to Zamboanga Del Sur Medical Center. A more exhaustive RT-PCR test a day later confirmed the earlier positive antigen test result.
Alonzo said Gaerlan was fully vaccinated with Sinovac’s Coronavac vaccine.
Maj. Gen. Ernesto Torres Jr., president of the Army chapter of Philippine Military Academy “Makatao” Class of 1989, said Gaerlan was the fourth member of the class to “drop working their tools due to COVID,” along with Jun Unson, Danny Olay and Allan Cordova.
As of Sept. 5, there are 1,323 active cases of COVID-19 in the Armed Forces of the Philippines, from a total of 17,133 recorded cases. There were 35 deaths and 15,244 recoveries.