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Vaccinate all QC cops now: mayor

By Marita Moaje

July 29, 2021, 2:05 pm

<p><strong>FREE FOOD</strong>. Members of the Quezon City Police District line up to get food from the National Capital Region Police Office mobile kitchen station along Commonwealth Avenue, Quezon City on Monday (July 26, 2021). The mobile kitchen was set up for thousands of cops who maintained peace and order near the Batasang Pambansa Complex on the day President Rodrigo Roa Duterte delivered his sixth and final State of the Nation Address. <strong><em>(PNA photo by Robert Oswald P. Alfiler)</em></strong></p>

FREE FOOD. Members of the Quezon City Police District line up to get food from the National Capital Region Police Office mobile kitchen station along Commonwealth Avenue, Quezon City on Monday (July 26, 2021). The mobile kitchen was set up for thousands of cops who maintained peace and order near the Batasang Pambansa Complex on the day President Rodrigo Roa Duterte delivered his sixth and final State of the Nation Address. (PNA photo by Robert Oswald P. Alfiler)

MANILA – The Quezon City government wants the immediate vaccination of 536 of its police officers.

This, after 82 Quezon City Police District (QCPD) officers tested positive for the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) and were admitted to the HOPE facilities on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Fifty-four out of the 82 are QC residents.

Data showed that 57 have received their two doses of the Covid-19 vaccine, two have the first dose only, and 23 others are not yet vaccinated.

Mayor Joy Belmonte said in a statement that she has ordered “the immediate vaccination of the remaining 536 commissioned and non-commissioned police officers and non-uniformed personnel in the Quezon City Police District, who were not inoculated because of vaccine hesitancy, medical reasons or they were recently assigned to the district”.

Based on records, of the 82 infected officers from Station 3 and Police Community Precincts 1 and 2, 74 are uniformed personnel, four are civilian employees, and four others are police aides.

The remaining 102 police officers and non-uniformed personnel in Station 3 will undergo re-swabbing after a week as part of precautionary measures.

Forty-two of them have been identified as close contacts of the positive cases and will be isolated at Camp Karingal while waiting to be swabbed.

The 60 who were not exposed will continue to be on duty at the station but QCPD Deputy Director for Administration Col. Ferdinand Navarro said they are neither allowed to leave the station nor go home until their swab test results are out.

Ito ang paraan natin para masiguro na hindi kakalat ang virus. Nagpapasalamat tayo sa Quezon City Government sa kanilang maagap na testing sa ating hanay at ang mabilis na pagtugon sa mga natuklasang kinapitan ng Covid-19 (This is to ensure that the virus will not spread. We thank the QC government for the immediate testing on our officers and the immediate assistance given to those who tested positive),” Navarro said in a statement.

Philippine National Police chief, Gen. Guillermo Eleazar also said in a statement “focused testing” is ongoing within QCPD to “identify, isolate, and provide necessary medical assistance for all those who may have been infected by the virus”.

Belmonte said the city government will provide food for at least 10 days for the 220 who are detained in the affected stations as visitors are temporarily not allowed.

The inmates will likewise be subjected to contact tracing.

Their families were encouraged to use the electronic visitation (e-Dalaw) program.

The QC Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office will be disinfecting and decontaminating the three stations. (PNA)

 

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