Photo for illustration purposes only.
The Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) confirmed that there have been zero cases in seven penal farms and colonies under its jurisdiction since the start of July. This development comes after almost a month that they released the number of infections among inmates. With this, their facilities are said to have no new infections for the last two weeks.
Still, there are two inmates who are in quarantine— an inmate and a BuCor employee.
In a statement on Tuesday night, Justice Undersecretary Markk Perete announced that no new COVID-19 cases have been reported since July 1 in any of the seven BuCor-managed facilities, including the highly-congested New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa City and Correctional Institution for Women (CIW) in Mandaluyong.
These prisons contain the majority of the COVID-19 cases reported in April.
Perete added that there are a total of 343 inmates and BuCor personnel who had tested positive for COVID-19. Among these, there are 18 deaths and 323 recoveries.
All of the deaths were inmates— 15 from the NBP and 3 from the CIW.
According to the last update of the BuCor on June 17, 301 cases were confirmed where 223 of these were NBP and CIW inmates. The 42 additional cases were apparently reported between June 18 and 30 since according to Perete, no new infections have broken out since July 1.
The Sablayan Penal Farm and Colony in Occidental Mindoro province, which is another BuCor facility, has recorded a COVID-19 case— 34-year-old female corrections officer. The patient was reported to have recovered on June 22.
The other prisons including the Iwahig Prison and Penal Farm in Palawan, San Ramon Prison and Penal Farm in Zamboanga City, Davao Prison and Penal Farm, and Leyte Regional Prison have no reported COVID-19 cases.
Even if there are no new infections, visiting BuCor facilities is still prohibited. A solution implemented is that families are allowed to talk to inmates online through the electronic “dalaw” (e-dalaw) program.
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