All 66 personnel of the Police Regional Office (PRO) 4-B (Mimaropa) who were considered close contacts of Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief, Gen. Debold Sinas, have tested negative for the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).
“The results of the RT-PCR (reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction) test conducted have been released and all are negative. Likewise, as of this date, not anyone from the identified close contacts experienced Covid-19 symptoms,” PRO 4-B spokesperson, Lt. Col. Imelda Tolentino, said in a message to reporters on Saturday.
Tolentino said among those who tested negative was PRO 4-B Director, Brig. Gen. Pascual Muñoz Jr.
She said the test was done on the sixth day after Sinas' command visit to the PRO 4-B headquarters in Oriental Mindoro on March 11 to ensure that the virus would be detected, if there is any. The virus could be detected within five to seven days after exposure.
“This reflects the effective implementation of health protocols by the PNP during the CPNP (Chief PNP) Command Visit,” she added.
Sinas is currently under quarantine after testing positive for the disease last week.
Meanwhile, another cop succumbed to Covid-19, bringing the PNP's death toll to 35.
PNP Officer-in-Charge, Lt. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar, said the fatality was a 54-year-old police officer assigned to the National Capital Region Police (NCRPO) who died on March 18.
The police officer had underlying conditions such as hypertensive cardiovascular disease, as well as pneumonia.
On Friday, the PNP logged 171 new cases, increasing the total number of Covid-19 infections among police officers to 12,898.
Recoveries reached 11,624 with 107 new ones.
Eleazar also reported that 2,251 out of 2,411 police medical front-liners who have registered for Covid-19 vaccination have been inoculated while the remaining 160 were not allowed for medical reasons.
Of the figure, only 103 have experienced minor adverse reactions to the vaccines but these quickly disappeared and posed no harm to the inoculated personnel, he said.
Eleazar noted that 1,772 personnel in Metro Manila and other regional police offices have been vaccinated with the Chinese-donated CoronaVac vaccines while 479 were injected with the AstraZeneca jabs.
The PNP has received some 1,200 CoronaVac doses from the 600,000 doses donated by the Chinese government to the Philippines, and an initial 700 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine out of the 525,600 doses obtained through the COVAX Facility. (Christopher Lloyd Caliwan/PNA)
