A policeman from Davao Oriental is the 71st fatality of Philippine National Police due to Corona virus disease (Covid-19).

Police General Guillermo Lorenzo T Eleazar announced today the death of a 47-year-old Police Senior Master Sergeant from Davao Oriental who was tested positive of Covid-19 last June 3.

Based on the report from PNP Health Service, the police personnel was exposed to a colleague who was tested positive of the virus and on May 31, 2021, he and all personnel of the station underwent COVID-19 RT-PCR Test initiated by the local government as advised by the Municipal IATF.

Upon receiving the positive results of personnel, they were immediately evacuated and transferred to Barangay Isolation facility.

On June 9, said personnel developed symptoms like low grade fever and difficulty of breathing.

On June 11, at around 3:00 PM, he informed the nurse on duty in the isolation facility that he had cough and sudden dyspnea. Vital signs were taken, Oxygen Saturation decreased to 77%. Immediately chest x-ray was done which showed Bilateral Pneumonia. He was transferred to the Municipal Isolation Unit then was hooked to oxygen inhalation. Phone referrals were done to the different hospital in Mati and Tagum, but there are no vacant beds.

He was then rushed to Davao Regional Medical Center (DRMC) Tagum because of the severity of his condition.

On June 12, 2021 at around 1:00 AM, he was intubated but pronounced dead at around 03:20 AM on the same date by his attending physician due to Respiratory Failure secondary to COVID-19 Critical (Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome).

"My heartfelt condolonces to the bereaved family of our personnel. The PNP leadership is doing everything to mitigate the effect of the virus in our own backyard by encouraging every personnel to be vaccinated." Eleazar said.

As of June 14, the PNPHS recorded 164 more confirmed cases bringing the total cases to 25,866 with 1,865 active cases while 89 recoveries were also noted bringing the total recoveries of police personnel to 23,930.

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