NINE of the 18 persons deprived of liberty (PDL) staying at the Argao Police Station’s detention cell have tested positive for the coronavirus disease 2019.
A newly arrested PDL was believed to be the source of the infections. The man had been admitted to a hospital after figuring in a road incident, said Maj. Sheila Gurtiza, the Argao police chief.
Gurtiza has suspended the family visits.
The nine PDL were transferred into a separate cell that serves as an isolation unit inside the police station. They cannot be transferred to the town’s quarantine facility for security reasons as it only has folding beds and it has no grills that can prevent them from escaping, Gurtiza said.
After the newly arrested PDL was placed inside the detention cell, the inmates complained to the police that they have fever and they felt muscle pain.
The PDL were subjected to swab tests and nine of them tested positive for Sars-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19.
A police officer who was a close contact of one of the Covid-positive PDL was swabbed and isolated. Gurtiza said they still have to receive the result. (AYB)
