COTABATO CITY, Maguindanao Philippines — All 39 employees of the Office of the Chief Minister of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) have defeated the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
“We are happy to share with the public that all our employees (who contracted the virus) have fully recovered,” Mohd Asnin Pendatun, BARMM Cabinet secretary and regional spokesperson of the Inter-Agency Task Force, said on Saturday night.
Pendatun added that the employees were now released and allowed to go home although they were told to be on a seven-day furlough as a precautionary measure should symptoms reemerge.
The 39 were among the 229 employees who had close contact with one employee who was found to have contracted the virus on Sept. 1.
Even with the employees fully recovered, Pendatuan said BAMM employees would still have to work from home.
Earlier, Saffrullah Dipatuan, Bangsamoro health minister and parliament member, and his wife, were also announced to have recovered from COVID-19.
Other infected Bangsamoro officials who had not recovered are parliament member Marjanie Mimbantas-Macasalong, Lanao del Sur Gov. Mamintal Adiong Jr., Mayor Mohammad Yahya Macapodi of Malabang, Lanao del Sur, and Lanao del Sur Provincial Board Member Allan Panolong.
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