By Jeffrey Damicog
More persons deprived of liberty (PDL) and personnel of the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) have been found infected with the deadly 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the Department of (DOJ) said on Thursday, June 18.
“As of said date, the total number of confirmed cases is at three hundred one (301),” said DOJ Undersecretary Markk Perete in a statement as he cited a June 15 report from the BuCor.
The DOJ spokesman said 16 PDLs have died and 145 PDLs have recovered.
“The National Bilibid Prisons accounts for the most number of confirmed cases,” Perete said.
The undersecretary said these include 141 PDLs and 38 Bilibid staff.
“The rest of confirmed cases come from the Correctional Institute for Women (CIW), where eighty-two (82) PDLs and seven (7) personnel have been reported to have the virus, and from the National Headquarters where thirty-three (33) personnel are confirmed to be Covid-19 positive,” he disclosed.
“The rest of the penal farms and colonies administered by BuCor reported no cases of CoVid-19,” he added.
Meanwhile, Perete assured that the BuCor continues its testing and contact-tracing efforts to prevent further infections.
“It awaits the arrival of 5,000 rapid test kits from the GoJust Programme while at the same time augments its medical and health personnel in the affected sites,” he stated.