DAVAO CITY – Davao City Police Office (DCPO) Director Col. Kirby Kraft said the Toril Police Station has been placed under lockdown since Saturday after 30 detainees tested positive for coronavirus disease (COVID-19), and subjected 22 of its personnel, including station commander Maj. Michael S. Uyanguren, to mandatory quarantine.

In a phone interview, Kraft said that the police station was informed of the “positive” reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test results last October 3 or two days after the detainees underwent swab test.

All inmates were required to undergo RT-PCR tests as a requirement for their transfer to the custody of Davao City Jail, which is managed by the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP)-Davao, he said.

He said the police station would remain under lockdown, until all personnel are tested and shown to be clear of the coronavirus infection.

“All persons under police custody (PCUP) of the 12 stations in Davao City will be required to undergo a swab test before they will be turned over to BJMP. The swab test was conducted last October 1. On October 3, the police station was informed that there were PCUPs who tested positive,” he added.

He said the lockdown would not affect the operation of the police station since 90 percent of its personnel are deployed on the field and have no direct exposure to the COVID-19 positive detainees.

“They have no direct contact because they are outside the police station, so it will not affect the police visibility,” he assured.

In a separate phone interview, Uyanguren suspected that a detainee, who had contracted the infection before being arrested by authorities, might have brought the infection to the station. 

“Most probably, the virus came from a detainee who got it from outside. When he was arrested, the RDT (rapid diagnostic test) did not detect the virus, and the symptoms just developed while in detention,” he said.

All detainees of the station were subjected to an antibody-based RDT test before being detained, according to him.

“RDT was not reliable in detecting the virus,” he said.

Uyanguren said that 14 police officers and eight members of police auxiliary with direct exposure have been isolated inside the police station while the COVID-19 positive detainees have remained inside their detention cell.

The detainees are asymptomatic, he added.

He said that the 15 other detainees, who were reported to have been in direct contact with the 30 COVID-19 positive detainees, have been transferred to a separate building.

“Before they were separated, they shared the same detention cell. They were separated only after the results of the swab test came out,” he said.

He said they are scheduled to undergo RT-PCR tests within the week.

As part of the lockdown measure, he said visitors are not allowed inside the station while the minimum health protocols are strictly being observed among personnel on quarantine, such as physical distancing and wearing of face masks and face shields.

He said police officers and other personnel with no direct contact are holding office in a separate building of the station.