Personnel of the Mandaue City Jail are required to wear personal protective equipment (PPEs) before they are allowed to come in close contact with persons deprived of liberty (PDL) who occupy the facility in Barangay Looc, Mandaue City. | Norman Mendoza
CEBU CITY, Philippines – The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has now reached Mandaue City Jail, the Department of Health in Central Visayas (DOH – 7) revealed.
The COVID-19 bulletin of DOH – 7 on Friday, April 24 revealed that one of the two additional cases reported in Mandaue City came from the city’s penal facility.
“Mandaue City has two new cases, one of whom is a person deprived of liberty (PDL) from Mandaue City Jail,” the bulletin stated.
Mandaue City Jail is the second penal facility in Cebu where an inmate was found to have been infected with the coronavirus.
Last April 20, a prisoner from Cebu City Jail succumbed to COVID-19. Since then, the number of detainees and jail officers there who contracted the disease ballooned to 146 on Friday.
Mandaue City now has a total of 11 COVID-19 cases.
DOH – 7 also confirmed findings from Cebu City and Lapu-Lapu City that there are additional 21 and eight new cases from their cities, respectively.
These developments bring the total number of COVID-19 cases in Central Visayas to 397 of which 350 belong to Cebu City.
One new recovery from Lapu-Lapu City was also recorded on Friday. This means the number of patients cleared of the virus from the city has increased to two, and 25 region-wide.
The sub-national level laboratory here has already tested 4,085 samples from Central Visayas, including the 252 examined on Friday.
Containment measures in jails
Mandaue City Jail has a population of around 2,100 detainees.
Before the findings from DOH – 7 were released, its jail administration has required everyone inside the facility to wear surgical masks and other protective gear to minimize transmission.
Like Cebu City Jail, Mandaue City Jail in Barangay Looc has been placed under lockdown since March.
DOH – 7 also assured the public that contact tracing and isolation procedures are being implemented in these jail facilities.
“The new cases being added are a product of contact tracing among inmates and jail officers. They are having negative to mild symptoms and are now being isolated,” said Dr. Jaime Bernadas, DOH – 7 director, in a press release.
“Vulnerable population has been removed from the general jail population and contingency plans are also being made and implemented accordingly,” he added./rcg