By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

The Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office (NOPPO) yesterday confirmed its first coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID)-related fatality among its police personnel.

Police Lt. Wilma Silva, deputy public information officer for NOPPO, said the cop was a 51-year-old police chief master sergeant assigned at the Hinoba-an Municipal Police Station.

Based on the cop’s medical records which were revealed by Silva, on October 28 the involved cop complained to his family of not feeling well and he was brought to the Hinigaran Emergency Center.

The police officer was later transferred to the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital (CLMMRH) in Bacolod City. His condition continued to deteriorate on October 30 and he went into a comatose state. That same day, his test results came out showing he had tested positive for COVID-19.

The cop continued to receive treatment at the CLMMRH, but he succumbed to a mild stroke last Tuesday.

In all, NOPPO has more than 20 COVID-infected personnel, although all of them have already recovered and are even donating their convalescent plasma for critically-ill COVID patients in Negros Occidental./DGB, WDJ