ILOILO City – To avert a possible widespread contagion, 38 inmates of the Iloilo City District Jail – Male Dormitory in Barangay Ungka, Jaro district who tested positive for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) were transferred to an isolation facility in Dumalag, Capiz.
These people deprived of liberty (PDLs) are continuing their quarantine at the Dumalag facility, according to Jail Senior Superintendent Gilbert Peremne of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology Region 6.
“It’s best that they are now in our isolation center in Dumalag town. We are after the health of other inmates and our personnel,” Peremne said.
These 38 inmates will be subjected for another reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction test next week.
Should their results turned out negative for COVID-19, they will be brought back to the facility in Barangay Ungka.
The PDLs have direct contact to an infected inmate who died on Sept. 6 while being treated at the Western Visayas Medical Center (WVMC) in Mandurriao district.
The index case was a 31-year-old male drug suspect. He was remitted to the facility on July 31 but on Sept. 6, he suddenly collapsed and was rushed to the WVMC.
There, he was tested. His result was released on Sept. 10.
Meanwhile, Jail Superintendent Mary Chanette Espartero, warden of the Iloilo City District Jail – Male Dormitory, said jail visits are temporarily suspended as part of efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19.
“(But) PDLs are allowed to communicate with their family through video calls,” Espartero said./PN
