PNP gets 15,000 face shields as cops with COVID-19 hit 8,735
MANILA, Philippines — National police leadership received some 15,000 face shields turned over by the nonprofit Office of the United Defenders for Democracy and Sovereignty earlier this week in Quezon City.
In a statement issued Wednesday, the PNP public information office disclosed that the agency's Medical Reserve Force initiated the donative drive for the benefit of medical staff and patients of quarantine facilities stationed in PICC, Ultra in Pasig City, PNP General Hospital, and MOA Arena Swabbing Facility in Pasay City.
According to the PNP, the newly-acquired face shields are now stored for inventory and safe-keeping in Mall of Asia. "We would like to thank the leadership of UDDS for their donations that would be used by our medical frontliners and patients in our vital quarantine facilities," Police Gen. Debold Sinas, PNP chief, said in the statement.
The government’s task force on coronavirus response is now requiring people to wear full-coverage face shields on top of their masks whenever they go outside, though the health department has said that wearing face shields is not advisable for everyone, particularly those with breathing or visibility limitations.
Users on social media have cast doubt over the science behind the new requirement by the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases. A study published in the journal Physics of Fluids found that although face shields block the initial forward motion of cough or sneeze, the expelled droplets can move around the visor “with relative ease and spread out over a large area.”
READ: DOH: Face shields not advisable for everyone
Cops with coronavirus reach 8,735
In its latest tally, the PNP Health Service tallied 17 more cases of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), bringing the agency caseload to 8,735 patients documented since the pathogen first emerged in December 2019.
The PNP also added 35 recoveries, bringing its total to 8,371 cops who recovered from the pathogen, good for a 96% recovery rate in the PNP.
No new deaths were recorded in the latest tally, and the PNP death toll from COVID-19 stands at 27.
Accounting for total deaths and recoveries, there are only 337 active cases of the coronavirus in the PNP, or cops who are still recovering in hospitals or quarantine facilities.
The PNP has two molecular laboratories based at the national headquarters at Camp Crame that are capable of accommodating 420 tests a day, and the PNP Administrative Support for COVID-19 Task Force is pushing for 24/7 coronavirus testing for its personnel and the release of results within 24 hours.
Police leadership has long acknowledged the merits of expanded mass testing, though Duterte seemed to take a while to catch up, saying at a televised briefing in Filipino: "In all honesty, what's important is, I realize now, it’s the testing."
READ: PNP pushes for 'maximized' 24/7 mass testing of cops
Case breakdown
- NOSU - 8
- NCRPO - 1
- PRO 3 - 2
- PRO 6 - 2
- PRO 8 - 1
- PRO 12 - 1
- PRO COR - 2
As of the Department of Health's latest case bulletin, exactly 464,004 Filipinos with the coronavirus have been recorded in the country.
— Franco Luna with reports from Gaea Katreena Cabico
- Latest
- Trending
