At least 275 more cops have recovered from the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19), increasing their total recovery count to 29,012, the Philippine National Police (PNP) said on Wednesday.

The PNP, however, logged 68 new infections, bringing the total active cases to 917, and 81st death due to Covid-19.

A 40-year-old intelligence officer from Quezon province was the latest fatality, according to PNP chief, Gen. Guillermo Eleazar, in a statement.

Based on the report, the patient was rushed and admitted to a local hospital on July 24 when he experienced fever and severe headache. He then underwent swab test which yielded positive results.

On July 26, the police officer suffered difficulty in breathing and succumbed while being treated. He was declared dead by the attending physician due to severe pneumonia.

Eleazar expressed his condolences to the bereaved family of police personnel and assured them that assistance and benefits will be given.

“Ipinaaabot ko sa pamilya ng ating pulis ang aking taos pusong pakikiramay. Tayo po ay nagsisikap upang hindi na muling kumalat ang naturang sakit sa ating mga pulis at patuloy na nakikiusap na sila ay magpabakuna (I extend my sincere condolences to the family of our police officer. We are trying to stop the disease from spreading to our police and continue to beg them to be vaccinated),” Eleazar said.

He said 33,711 police personnel have so far been fully vaccinated while 47,888 have received their first dose of Covid-19 vaccine.

In a radio interview, Lt. Gen. Joselito Vera Cruz, PNP deputy chief for administration and the commander of Administrative Support for Covid-19 Task Force (ASCOTF), said more police personnel now want to be vaccinated against Covid-19 based on their latest survey.

Vera Cruz said around 170,202 or 77.92 percent of PNP personnel want to be vaccinated, 33,648 have a brand option, and 14,555 still do not want to be vaccinated.

However, Vera Cruz said they continue to encourage their staff to get vaccinated for protection against Covid-19.

He also said that based on their monitoring, no police personnel has been infected with the Delta variant.

“Kahit papaano siguro nakatulong ito sa paghikayat sa mga kapulisan na magpa bakuna dahil nga sa threat ng delta variant. Sa ngayon wala pa naman kumpirmadong kaso ng delta variant sa ating hanay. Lagi naman natin pinapaalahanan ang ating mga kapulisan lalo yung mga nagsasagawa ng ibat ibang police operations (Somehow maybe it helped them to convince to get vaccinated because of the threat of the Delta variant. So far there are no confirmed cases of delta variant in our ranks. We always remind our policemen, especially those who conduct various police operations),” Vera Cruz said in a radio interview.

Eleazar ordered the ASCOTF to prepare for worst-case scenarios following the confirmation of cases of the Delta variant.

Lt. Gen. Bong Dickson, the Joint Task Force Covid Shield commander, was likewise assigned to intensify engagement with local government units in implementing guidelines and to protect communities from the more contagious strain. (PNA)