COVID infections in PNP hit 1,063

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine National Police recorded 19 new coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infections among PNP personnel on Saturday, bringing the total cases to 1,063.

Of the number, 11 cases of COVID-19 were from the Metro Manila police and five from the Aviation Security Group.

The PNP headquarters at Camp Crame in Quezon City, Cordillera and Calabarzon police logged one case each of COVID-19.

At least 2,108 police officers who have shown symptoms of the virus or had interacted with COVID-19 patients are being monitored, according to the police organization.

The PNP said 470 police personnel have recovered from the disease. The number of deaths remained at nine.

Brig. Gen. Bernard Banac, spokesman for the PNP, earlier said a majority of the police officers who contracted the virus were frontliners.

The PNP has expressed concern over the spike in the number of COVID-19 infections after Metro Manila and other parts of the country were placed on a more relaxed general community quarantine.

Meanwhile, the Pasig government has started using ECLIA-based antibody testing for COVID-19 as the city recorded a total of 1,000 cases.

ECLIA or enhanced chemiluminescence immunoassay is fully automated and certified by the Food and Drug Administration both in the Philippines and the United States.

“It has 100 percent specificity once used correctly. By next week, our polymerase chain reaction testing would also be operational,” Mayor Vico Sotto said.

As of July 11, Pasig registered 1,000 COVID-19 cases with 87 deaths and 571 recoveries.