President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr., who tested positive for COVID a few days back, is now free from symptoms of the disease, Press Secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles, quoting the chief executive’s lead physician, said Wednesday.
The President’s lead physician Dr. Samuel Zacate visited the 64-year-old Marcos in his residence at 10 a.m. Wednesday and gave him a thorough examination.
Cruz-Angeles said: “Dr. Zacate gave the happy news that on the 5th and 6th day of his isolation, the President is now free from all symptoms of COVID-19.”
She added that the President had finished all his medications and that based on Dr. Zacate’s clinical opinion, Marcos was ready to go back to his face-to-face engagements.
“Dr. Zacate told the President that he still needs to complete his seven-day isolation as mandated by the health department’s protocol,” Cruz-Angeles said.
“The President’s vital signs are all within normal limits. He has no signs of respiratory distress and is very comfortable,” she said, quoting Dr. Zacate’s latest health bulletin.
Dr. Zacate reported that “if there is no reappearance of any sign and symptoms related to COVID-19, and provided further that he has no fever” for the next 24 hours, the President can be released from isolation on Friday, July 15.
“If all the aforementioned conditions as stated in the DOH Protocol are met, the President will be given a Certificate of Home Isolation by Dr. Zacate. Until then, he will be closely monitored by his lead physician,” Cruz-Angeles said.
Despite testing positive for COVID-19, Marcos has not slowed down from his work and has been presiding cabinet meetings via teleconferencing.
Continue wearing face masks
An infectious disease expert is advising the public to continue wearing face masks amid the rising cases of Omicron subvariants in the country.
In a Facebook post Wednesday, Dr. Edsel Salvaña said masks should be worn even outdoors as the Omicron BA.5 subvariant is “super contagious.”
“They’re finding that out in other countries AFTER they removed their mask mandates. Good thing we’re a lot more cautious in the Philippines,” he said.
Health authorities say Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 are highly transmissible, as transmissible as measles, which is considered the most infectious viral illness in humans.
WHO chief worried
World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he was worried that COVID case numbers were shooting up, putting more strain on health systems and workers.
The number of COVID cases reported to the WHO increased 30 percent in the past two weeks, driven by sub-variants of the Omicron strain and the lifting of control measures.
“New waves of the virus demonstrate again that COVID-19 is nowhere near over. As the virus pushes at us, we must push back,” he said.
He told a news conference that as transmission increases, governments must also deploy tried-and-tested measures like mask-wearing and improving ventilation.
“Sub-variants of Omicron, like BA.4 and BA.5, continue to drive waves of cases, hospitalization, and death around the world,” Tedros said.
