(Eagle News) — The Philippine National Police has logged its 71st fatality due to COVID-19, a 47-year-old police senior master sergeant from Davao Oriental.
In a statement, the PNP said the police officer tested positive for the virus on June 3 after being among those exposed to a colleague who tested positive for the virus on May 31.
The 47-year-old’s results were based on an RT-PCR test initiated by the local government on all personnel of that station as advised by the municipal Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases.
Personnel who tested positive, including the police senior master sergeant, were immediately evacuated and transferred to a barangay isolation facility.
On June 9, however, the police officer developed symptoms such as low-grade fever and difficulty of breathing.
On June 11, around 3:00 p.m. , he informed the nurse on duty in the isolation facility that he had a cough and sudden dyspnea.
Vital signs were taken, and it was found his oxygen saturation had decreased to 77%.
A chest X-ray showed he had bilateral pneumonia.
He was transferred to the Municipal Isolation Unit and was hooked to an oxygen tank.
“Phone referrals were done to the different hospitals in Mati and Tagum, but there (were) no vacant beds,” the PNP said.
He was finally rushed to Davao Regional Medical Center (DRMC) Tagum.
On June 12, around 1 a.m., he was intubated but was pronounced dead later by his attending physician due to Respiratory Failure secondary to COVID-19 Critical (Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome).
“My heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family of our personnel. The PNP leadership is doing everything to mitigate the effect of the virus in our own backyard by encouraging every personnel to be vaccinated.” PNP Chief Guillermo Eleazar said.
So far, total COVID-19 cases among police personnel have climbed to 25,866, including the 164 additional ones.
Of these, 1,865 are active cases.
The total PNP recoveries from COVID-19, meanwhile, are now at 23930, including the additional 89 recoveries.