President Rodrigo Duterte is now undergoing quarantine after being exposed to a household staff who tested positive for COVID-19, but he tested negative for the virus, Malacañang said Thursday.
Cabinet Secretary and acting presidential spokesman Karlo Nograles issued the statement after reports said the Chief Executive was rushed to a hospital and after skipping his weekly “Talk to the People” public address.
Nograles confirmed that Duterte has visited Cardinal Santos Medical Center in San Juan for his “routine medical check-up.” But he did not say when the visit occurred.
“While the results of the test came back negative, the President is currently observing mandatory quarantine protocols,” Nograles said in a statement.
He assured the public that the 76-year-old President was already tested and was not infected by the virus and will continue his work.
“The Chief Executive continues to work while in quarantine, and is in constant communication with the members of the Cabinet in order to ensure that urgent matters are addressed, and to monitor the implementation of his directives, particularly with regard to the government’s COVID-19 response,” he added.
Nograles said Duterte was last exposed to the COVID-positive household staff on Sunday, Jan. 30.
He has so far received three doses of the China-made Sinopharm vaccine.
The Philippines logged 8,702 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, bringing the total case count to 3,585,461, the Department of Health (DOH) reported.
The positivity rate was at 25.5 percent, based on 42,446 people tested on Feb.1.
The top regions with cases in the recent two weeks were Region 6 (Western Visayas) with 1,039 or 12 percent, Region 7 (Central Visayas) with 799 or 9 percent, and Region 11 (Southern Mindanao) with 785 or 9 percent.
There were 71 new fatalities reported, bringing the COVID-19 death toll to 54,168.
The DOH also reported 15,290 new recoveries, bringing the total number of recoveries to 3,377,958.
There were 153,335 active cases, of which 4,923 were asymptomatic; 143,493 were mild; 3,067 were moderate; 1,528 were severe; and 324 were critical.
Nationwide, 44 percent of ICU beds, 43 percent of isolation beds, 43 percent of ward beds, and 24 percent of ventilators, were in use.
In Metro Manila, 37 percent of ICU beds, 32 percent of isolation beds, 36 percent of ward beds, and 23 percent of ventilators, were in use.