By Vann Marlo M. Villegas, Reporter

AT least 19 inmates and a worker at a correction facility for women near the Philippine capital have been infected with the coronavirus, raising fears of outbreaks in hundreds of the country’s cramped jails.

In a Facebook post, the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) on Tuesday said 18 prisoners and a staff member at the Correctional Institute for Women in Mandaluyong City have tested positive for the virus.

They were exposed to a 72-year-old inmate who has since been hospitalized, according to the social media post.

“Those who tested positive were reported to have mild symptoms and some were asymptomatic,” the bureau said.

“They are now being monitored and given vitamins, medicines and food supplements to strengthen their immune system, it added.

The Department of Health reported 140 new infections yesterday, bringing the total to 6,599.

Nine more patients have died, raising the death toll to 437, it said in a bulletin. Forty-one more patients have gotten well, bringing the total recoveries to 654, it added.

BuCor said officers at the female prison were conducting contract tracing so these people can be isolated in quarantine areas. They will also be tested for the coronavirus disease 2019.

Prison management will boost partnerships with government hospitals for the admission of COVID-19-positive inmates as well as with donors, partners and stakeholders to fight the disease. Philippine prisons need beds, big tents and medicines.

The prison bureau on Saturday said the 72-year-old inmate who had tested positive for the virus was confined at the Sta. Ana Hospital in Manila.

She has a history of diabetes and had been diagnosed with pneumonia at the prison’s infirmary.

More than 20 prisoners who claimed to be vulnerable to COVID-19 earlier asked the Supreme Court to allow their release through bail on humanitarian grounds.

Several groups have also urged the tribunal to allow the release of those who are elderly, sick and pregnant, citing congestion in jails.

The tribunal’s court administrator this week asked trial judges to enforce a six-year-old rule allowing the release of detainees who have been jailed for a time equal to the minimum of the penalty charged.

Those whose hearings had been postponed at least twice in the absence of witnesses should also be freed.

Meanwhile, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario S. Vergeire said they have conducted 58,072 tests.

The rate of infections have slowed and most cases remained in Metro Manila, she said at a news briefing. There were about 30 provinces with zero or minimal cases of the virus, she added.

Mr. Vergeire warned that cases could still spike if preventive measures were not followed.

She said the Philippine International Convention Center has been turned into a quarantine facility with 294 beds. The New Clark City National Government Administration Center in Pampanga province also started admitting COVID-19 patients with 688 beds.

In separate advisory, DoH said the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine scaled down its operations from April 16 to 24 after 43 of its personnel tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

Testing and contact tracing would continue, Ms. Vergeire said, adding that this would not affect the release of results.

She also said 75 people at the National Center for Mental Health — 62 employees and 13 psychiatric patients had tested positive for the virus. Five of them have recovered.

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