Pregnant cop dies of COVID as pandemic-related deaths in PNP reach 123

Facade of the PNP headquarters in Camp Crame. Image from pnp.gov.ph website

MANILA, Philippines — A pregnant police officer assigned in Central Luzon succumbed to COVID-19, pushing the pandemic-related deaths within the Philippine National Police (PNP) to 123.

According to the PNP, the policewoman died on October 17, due to acute respiratory syndrome secondary to COVID-19.  Records show that the deceased patient was admitted to a hospital in Baler, Aurora, last October 8, after she complained about difficulty of breathing.

She was then transferred to a hospital in Nueva Ecija on October 10 where she went through an emergency caesarian operation for her infant, who unfortunately died on the same day.

“Based on her medical records, said patient was admitted to the hospital in Baler, Aurora due to difficulty breathing on October 8. All laboratory tests were done and yielded positive results to COVID-19,” PNP said in a statement on Monday.

“On October 10, the said policewoman was transferred to a hospital in Nueva Ecija and underwent Emergency Caesarian Operation, delivering a baby boy but subsequently died on the same day.  On October 17, she was also declared dead by her attending physician,” it added.

PNP chief Gen. Guillermo Eleazar said that he has already offered his condolences to the bereaved family, while reminding police officers of his directive about female police officers and non-uniformed personnel to adopt work-from-home schemes if possible.

“Lubos po ang ating pakikidalamhati at pakikiramay sa pamilya ng ating pulis na namatay. Noon pa man po ay nagpalabas na tayo ng kaukulang utos hanggang sa mga police stations para sa ating babaeng pulis at NUP na sila ay mag-work-from-home scheme upang maiwasan ang pagkahawa sa COVID-19,” Eleazar noted.

(We are condoling and grieving with the family over the death of another police officer.  Even before, we have issued directives for police stations that our female officers and the non-uniformed personnel can adopt a work-from-home scheme to avoid being infected with COVID-19.)

On the other hand, PNP’s Health Service said that they have observed a steady decrease in new COVID-19 infections.  As of Monday, only 47 new cases were recorded, for an active case count of 941.

There are also 58 more recoveries tallied, pushing the total number of recovered PNP personnel to 40,248.  All in all, 41,311 have been infected within the organization.

In terms of vaccination efforts, 85.96 percent or 191,757 of PNP’s personnel are now fully vaccinated against COVID-19, while 12.31 percent or 27,470 personnel have received their first doses.

Only 1.72 percent of the police force or 3,840 have not yet received any vaccine dose.

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PNP logs 125 new COVID-19 infections, caseload now at 40,463

JPV