PNPA on lockdown until September 30

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine National Police Academy (PNPA) has extended the lockdown of its campus in Silang, Cavite until the end of the month.

The police academy had earlier announced a lockdown from Sept. 3 to Sept. 18 after some cadets tested positive for the coronavirus disease 2019 or COVID-19.

Brig. Gen. Gilberto Cruz yesterday said he decided to extend the lockdown based on the recommendation of their doctors.

“After swabbing, cadets undergo isolation for 14 days plus seven days just to make sure that everybody’s okay,” he said in an interview over ANC yesterday.

Cruz said 232 of 1,096 cadets and 11 personnel contracted COVID-19.

He said 66 have mild symptoms while the rest are asymptomatic. The patients are quarantined in six isolation facilities in the camp.

Cruz said they have yet to determine how the virus spread despite the strict measures they have imposed, such as the ban on the entry of visitors.

“I can assure the families and relatives of the cadets that the cadets are being taken cared of,” he said.

55 more cops contract COVID

Meanwhile, 55 more police officers have tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the number of infected Philippine National Police (PNP) personnel to 5,115.

Twenty-two of the new cases are from Metro Manila while 16 are assigned in Calabarzon. The other regions with new cases are Eastern Visayas with 12; Davao, three, and Zamboanga peninsula and Northern Mindanao, one each.

The PNP said 3,683 or 72 percent of the patients have recovered.

At least 4,127 other police officers are under observation after they exhibited symptoms of the virus or had interacted with COVID-19 patients.

In Iloilo, 38 inmates in the district jail in Barangay Ungka in Jaro town tested positive for COVID-19.

The inmates were tested after one of them who died of cardiac arrest on Sept. 6 was found to have contracted the disease.

The Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) regional office suspended the transfer of inmates and personnel as a precautionary measure.

Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas said he would ask the BJMP to defer the transfer of inmates to the city and lock down the facility.