PNP suspends face-to-face media interviews

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine National Police has suspended face-to-face media interviews and press conferences as the number of PNP personnel contracting COVID-19 keeps increasing.

PNP chief Gen. Debold Sinas imposed the directive on Tuesday to protect police officers and journalists covering the police beat.

The directive was initially in effect at Camp Crame in Quezon City following a surge in COVID-19 cases but is now being implemented nationwide, based on Sinas’ latest order. Journalists can still conduct interviews through phone and virtual platforms.

Sinas, who recently recovered from COVID-19, earlier suspended all command activities such as the four-minute workout for its personnel.

208 more cops get COVID

The PNP said 208 more of its personnel have contracted COVID-19 based on its latest report, bringing the number of active cases in the police force to 2,544 yesterday.

PNP deputy chief for administration Lt. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar said 47 of the new cases are from Metro Manila, including eight at Camp Crame.

Seventy-two are from various administrative and operational support units of the PNP while 89 are from different police regional offices across the country.

At least 16,430 PNP members have been infected with the virus since the COVID-19 pandemic started last year. Forty have died while 13,846 or 84.27 percent of the patients have recovered.

Eleazar said a total of 4,387 PNP personnel have been vaccinated against COVID-19. Of the number, 2,865 took the jabs developed by Sinovac Biotech Ltd. of China while 1,522 were inoculated with vaccines from British-Swedish pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca.