BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – Two detainees of a police station in this city tested positive for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
This is the first COVID-19 case reported inside a detention facility in Western Visayas.
The two detainees were among the six individuals arrested in a recent drug buy-bust operation in Barangay Banago, according to Lieutenant Colonel Ariel Pico, spokesperson of the Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO).
The two COVID-positive drug suspects were asymptomatic. They were transferred to a quarantine facility in this city while premises of Police Station 3 were disinfected.
Last week’s antidrug operation was conducted by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-Negros Occidental.
Following the buy-bust operation, agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) who carried out the sting underwent reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests.
A week after, PDEA, accompanied by a medical team, also subjected the six suspects to RT-PCR testing.
Pico said the inmates’ results were released late night of Aug. 24.
Currently, the BCPO is waiting for the City Health Office to conduct contact tracing, Pico said.
People can catch COVID-19 from others who have the virus. The disease can spread from person to person through small droplets from the nose or mouth which are spread when a person with COVID-19 coughs or exhales.
These droplets also land on objects and surfaces around the person. Other people then catch COVID-19 by touching these objects or surfaces, then touching their eyes, nose or mouth./PN
