Mandatory swab testing for all inmates going in and out of Cebu City Jail

Cebu City Jail |CDN file photo

CEBU CITY, Philippines – All inmates about to be committed to or released from the Cebu City Jail will have to undergo mandatory swab testing.

Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella announced on Monday, April 27, 2020, that he issued an executive order subjecting all prisoners going in and out of the penal facility for a swab test.

Labella said this is one of their measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) which has already infected a total of 210 individuals from the city jail.

“The mass testing in the city jail is still ongoing and it is necessary, for us to determine the extent of the virus’ transmission,” said Labella in Cebuano.

Executive Order No. 71 directs that the swab testing is on top of the medical examination required for detainees about to committed at Cebu City Jail in Barangay Kalunasan.

Prisoners whose swab samples came out positive of COVID-19 will be placed directly to the isolation center inside the city jail compound.

Only when they find out to be negative of the virus in the subsequent repeat tests will they be allowed to proceed to their designated cells.

Likewise, the city government has ordered the same for those about to be released from the penal facility.

The Cebu City Health Department has conducted COVID-19 tests to 360 inmates at the city jail as of April 26, 2020.

The total number of individuals infected with COVID-19 from the city jail constitutes nearly 50 percent of the city’s count. /bmjo