134 more cops catch COVID-19

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine National Police (PNP) recorded another big spike in coronavirus disease 2019 or COVID-19 infections.

Data from the PNP released Monday night showed that 134 police personnel have tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the number of confirmed cases to 1,223.

PNP spokesman Brig. Gen. Bernard Banac said 130 of the patients are assigned in Calabarzon while the other four are in Metro Manila.

“This is a combination of fresh and late cases,” he said in a message sent through Viber.

The PNP previously had a sudden increase last June 26 wherein 60 of its personnel contracted the virus.

The death toll remains at nine while 501 or 40.96 have recovered, according to the latest report of the PNP.

PNP chief Gen. Archie Gamboa earlier said most of the police officers who contracted COVID-19 were deployed at quarantine control points or checkpoints.

While the number of infected police personnel keeps on increasing, Gamboa has downplayed its possible effects to their operations.

Gamboa explained they can still perform their mandate of maintaining peace and order as they will never run out of personnel.

“The PNP still has 209,000 personnel. It’s practically a small portion,” he said.

Gamboa added that majority of their infected personnel are asymptomatic.

The PNP is also monitoring 2,097 other police personnel who have symptoms or interacted with COVID-19 patients.