THE coronavirus disease (Covid-19) molecular laboratory at the Police Regional Office (PRO)-Central Visayas will be operational by the end of January or first week of February, said Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Debold Sinas Monday, December 14.
Sinas said they are already finalizing the necessary permits from the Department of Health (DOH) and the training of the PNP medical personnel who will operate the facility.
He said the facility will be able to accommodate 80 Covid-19 tests per day.
“Sa Cebu City, once ma-activate ‘yun at mag graduate po ang mga analyst namin din at technician, the Cebu laboratory will operate by the end of the month of first week of January,” he said in a press conference in Camp Crame.
The molecular laboratory in a police camp in Davao City is also awaiting certification from the DOH.
Sinas said they are beefing up the Covid testing of their personnel to prevent the further spread of the virus.
“We’ll encourage the regional director to conduct preventive or ‘yung early detection test kasi part of the strategy ng gobyerno kasi hindi natin hintayin na lumala or magka-symptoms bago natin i-test,” he said.
As of December 13, 2020, a total of 8,578 policemen have tested positive for the virus. Of the total cases, 439 remain active while the PNP recorded 27 deaths and 8,112 recoveries.
Of the active cases, Sinas said 25 were in the hospital due to severe symptoms, while the other 414 who were asymptomatic were admitted to different quarantine facilities.
He said 899 policemen were also listed as probable cases, 932 were suspected cases, while 1,222 are under close monitoring.
Meantime, based on the PNP data, as of December 13, 85,623 PNP personnel out of the total 221,038 policemen have already been tested.
Of the 85,623, 2,092 were from the National Headquarters, 22,273 were from the National Support Units, and 61,258 were from police regional offices.
Sinas said in the Central Visayas police office, 37 percent of its total strength of 10,991 cops have already undergone swab testing.
PRO-Central Visayas has four fatalities due to Covid-19.
PNP Administrative Support to Covid Operations Task Force (ASCOTF) commander Lieutenant General Guillermo Eleazar said they are prioritizing the testing of the policemen deployed for the maintenance of peace and order and the observance of minimum health protocol on the streets.
Eleazar also said earlier that they are intensifying the PNP contact tracing efforts to ensure the safety not only of their personnel but of their families as well.
He said the PNP has created Covid-19 data or Coda to simplify the basic information of every PNP personnel through the QR code to start the process.
“Bottomline makakatulong sa ating pulis so we can sustain the operation ng PNP in the service of the Filipino while waiting for the vaccine. Coda simplify the information basic information at lahat history and her there is some of us subjected to test pero hindi iba pa nate-test so how can we conduct contract tracing with the process nitong Coda nandun lahat information at least kung ikaw kailangan contact trace or close contact hindi na magiimbento,” he said.
He also urged policemen to keep a diary for easier tracing of their contacts. (SunStar Philippines)