COTABATO CITY (PNA) – All 25 personnel of a police station in Maguindanao were ordered to undergo 14-day mandatory isolation after testing positive for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) on Wednesday.
Brig. Gen. Samuel Rodriguez, police regional director for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region (PRO-BARMM), has deployed on Thursday about 25 new police officers to temporarily replace the organic members of the Pagalungan Municipal Police Office to continue maintaining law and order in the town.
“A member of Pagalungan police started having fever and body pains a week after he attended a patronal fiesta celebration in nearby Midsayap, North Cotabato,” Rodriguez said.
The police officer, who was not identified in the report, said he could have contracted the virus during the fiesta celebration.
After their colleague tested positive for the virus, the other police officers volunteered to be tested and found themselves also positive of the virus.
Dr. Elizabeth Samama, Maguindanao health chief, has sent health front-liners to assist the Pagalungan municipal health station in attending to the police officers' needs.
Samama also ordered contact tracing of people with close contact with all the police officers involved, including their respective families.