COVID-19 cases in PNPA rise to 243

September 20, 2020

Some 243 cadets and personnel of the Philippine National Police Academy has been infected with coronavirus disease, an official said on Sunday.

In a radio interview, Police Major General Gilbert Cruz said mass testing was conducted last September 8 following the sudden spike of COVID-19 cases in the academy.

“After we tested all the cadets and personnel, it turns out 243 were positive cases in PNPA,” Cruz said.

He said of the 243 confirmed cases, 232 are cadets; five, PNPA officers; two, non-officers; and four, maintenance personnel.

He said after conducting contact tracing, 359 individuals are now undergoing quarantine.

“We closed the dormitories, gym, other building such as female dorm just to make sure that there will be no infection again,” Cruz said.

The PNPA director said despite the rise in number of cases, the classes in the academy continue through online and they are just limiting and suspending some group activities.

“Those who are tested negative, it’s okay for them to march...we make it a point that they change their mask everyday and we provide each cadet a canister of alcohol,” Cruz said.

He said they also distributed around 11,000 face shields and 27, 000 face masks to the cadets.

Cruz said PNPA has 1,098 cadets and 351 personnel.

He assured that they are taking care of the cadets as PNPA apologizes for prohibiting visitors inside the academy.

Earlier, Cruz extended the lockdown inside PNPA until September 30 to give way for mass testing. Ella Dionisio/DMS