MANILA, Philippines — An employee of the House of Representatives has tested positive for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), said House Secretary-General Jose Luis Montales.
Montales said the employee, who is a staffer of the Printing Service of the House, has no travel history to any country with confirmed COVID-19 cases and has no history of exposure to a confirmed case.
All personnel in the same office have been required to undergo self-quarantine and contact tracing will be conducted by the Department of Health (DOH), Montales added.
“I just received word that a staff from Printing Service tested positive for COVID-19. In compliance with the protocols, we will require ALL personnel of the Printing Service to undergo self-quarantine,” Montales said in a message, which was shared to reporters by ACT-CIS party-list Rep. Eric Pineda on Friday.
According to Montales, the employee has been “in and out of the hospital” since 2019 for various ailments. The person was recently confined for a case of community-acquired pneumonia.
The House Secretary-General, however, did not clarify if the staff member is already part of the 52 confirmed cases earlier announced by the DOH.
READ: COVID-19 cases in PH climb to 52 with addition of 3 more patients
He added that the DOH will be making the official announcement.
To date, five patients in the country who have contracted the disease have died.
READ: DOH confirms 3 new deaths in PH due to coronavirus
President Rodrigo Duterte has placed Metro Manila under community quarantine or lockdown amid the growing number of confirmed COVID-19 cases.
READ: Metro Manila placed under ‘community quarantine’ due to COVID-19
The government has also upgraded its COVID-19 alert status from Code Red Sublevel 1 to Sublevel 2.
READ: Philippines upgrades coronavirus alert to Code Red Sublevel 2
Several government offices have already closed down their offices for cleaning and disinfection. Some public officials have also opted to undergo self-quarantine for possibly being exposed to the virus.
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The International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses has identified the new coronavirus that causes COVID-19 as SARS-CoV-2.
The new coronavirus causes mild symptoms such as fever and cough for most people but can cause serious illness such as pneumonia for others, especially older adults and people with existing health problems.
Coronavirus is a family of viruses, which surfaces have a crown-like appearance. The viruses are named for the spikes on their surfaces.