PNP following DOH in naming COVID-patients

March 19, 2020

The Philippine National Police (PNP) on Thursday said they are following  protocols set by the Department of Health (DOH) in disclosing information of people positive for the 2019 coronavirus disease or COVID-19.

“The PNP is following the protocol being implemented by the DOH in regards to identifying possible COVID-19 patients,” said Police Brigadier General Bernard Banac, the PNP spokesman, in a press briefing.

“We are strictly doing it so that the dissemination of information will be uniformed,” he added.

Banac made the statement after the family of a policeman assigned in Manila who died from pneumonia last Saturday said they only found out that he is positive to COVID-19 from a briefing by the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO).

In his press briefing last Tuesday, NCRPO chief Police Major General Debold Sinas confirmed that the policeman who died is positive of COVID-19 but he did not disclosed the name. However, in the release they sent to media on Sunday, they identified the police personnel. Ella Dionisio/DMS