MANILA, Philippines -- (UPDATE 2) The Senate will not suspend its operations even after one of its employees was confirmed to be infected with the Influenza A(H1N1) virus, Senate President Juan Pence Enrile said on Friday.

Enrile did not identify the employee, but said the person was from the Senate Economic Planning Office.

He said he had yet to speak to the Senate doctor on the condition of the employee.

“Tuloy ang pasok ng mga empleyado. Tuloy din ang mga imbestigasyon. Walang disruptions. [The employees will continue working. The investigations will continue. There are no disruptions],” En rile said.

“Kailangan lahat mag-ingat. Uminom tayo ng maraming Kalamansi juice. Pag hindi ka uminom ng marami, tepok ka. [We should be careful and drink lots of Columns juice. If we don't drink that, we could die],” he said.

The House of Representatives had reported three cases of A(H1N1), one of whom, who had other diseases before she caught the virus, died. It suspended work for several days after the first case was confirmed.

There are more than 1,700 cases of A(H1N1) in the country but 86 percent have fully recovered.

Meanwhile, Muntinlupa Representative Rufino Biazon questioned the capability of the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine to handle all tests for the Influenza A(H1N1) virus, saying it is often swamped with cases that could delay the release of the test results.

Biazon said he had his son and 17-year-old nephew had tests at the RITM and saw the bottleneck of cases in the testing center.

"What I found out about the current capabilities of the DoH in testing for the disease leaves me scared for the future," Biazon said in a text message.

He said all tests were done in RITM, even though there were receiving centers and hospitals in other parts of the country. All these centers and hospitals do are collecting the samples and send them to RITM.

"These results in RITM being overwhelmed and the provincial results delayed," he said, adding that because of this, treatment of the patient is also delayed.

"Unless the DoH addresses these flaws, the next time we are hit by another virus that spreads as quickly but more virulent, we may be in for a disaster," he warned.

The congressman said they were lucky to get the test results after three days, but on the average, results would come out only after five days.

Biazon's son tested negative for the virus, but his nephew was found positive. Both are now recovering, he said.