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2 of PISTON 6 drivers tested positive for COVID-19 —Erice


Two of the six PISTON drivers who were arrested earlier this month for allegedly violating city ordinance on social distancing during a rally tested positive for COVID-19, Caloocan City Representative Edgar Erice confirmed Thursday.

"Yes, they are now in self quarantine," Erice told GMA News Online when asked to confirm the development.

Erice refused to identify the two PISTON drivers who tested positive for COVID-19 out of privacy, although he said they are both asymptomatic.

Lawyer VJ Topacio, counsel for the so-called PISTON 6, also confirmed the news to GMA News Online, adding that the two COVID-19 positive drivers "do not have symptoms and are currently on quarantine."

Although he also did not name the COVID-19 positive drivers, Topacio said 72-year-old Elmer Cordero was not one of them.

He added that the lawyers for PISTON 6 are also under quarantine.

The six jeepney drivers were arrested on June 2 in Caloocan City for allegedly violating the city ordinance on social distancing, the ban on any forms of mass gathering amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and resistance and disobedience to a person in authority.

The drivers were protesting the government's continuous prohibition of jeepney operations under the general community quarantine which they said is affecting their livelihood.

They were released on June 8 and 9 after posting bail.

Erice said that although they cannot be sure when and how the drivers got infected, "there is a possibility" that they contracted the virus while in jail.

Reports have shown the increasing number of persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) who got infected with COVID-19.

Last week, the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology revealed that the number of PDLs infected with COVID-19 has reached 745.

Of the number, a total of 388 have already recovered while six have died.

Meanwhile, among BJMP personnel, the number of those who have contracted the disease is 125 with 65 recoveries and zero deaths.

The BJMP has already put up quarantine facilities to isolate PDLs who had contracted the virus and practiced immediate contact tracing to identify who had direct contact with the positive cases.—with Nicole-Anne C. Lagrimas/AOL, GMA News
 

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