43 of 50 PCG personnel recover from COVID-19

June 26, 2020

More than 50 Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) personnel tested positive but 42 have recovered from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).


This was disclosed by Vice Admiral George Ursabia Jr. in a public briefing on Friday.


"As of yesterday 54 of our personnel were tested positive, 42 of them have already recovered. There are 12 still recovering," he said.


"What is good here is that all of them are asymptomatic that is why we are optimistic that all of them will recover," he added.


Ursabia said as part of their effort to protect their frontliners from COVID-19, the PCG observes the strict wearing of personal protective equipment (PPE).


"We are observing our own biosafety protocol. Of course we strengthen the psychosocial support through debriefing and distressing program and we also conduct regular RT-PCR (reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction) testing to our frontliners to make sure they free from Covid," he said.


Ursabia said the PCG also subsidizes the food of their frontline personnel to ensure they have nutritional diet.


"We also give them vitamin C with zinc to strenghten their antibodies," he said.

Commodore Armando Balilo, the PCG spokesman, said only 11 cruise ships remain at the anchorage area in Manila Bay.

He said 1,023 Filipino seafarers are on board waiting for their swab test results. Robina Asido/DMS