President Rodrigo Duterte/ Screenshot from Facebook, PCOO livestream
MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte has been 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 said the President is currently undergoing quarantine.
“The Palace confirms that President Rodrigo Roa Duterte was recently exposed to household staff who tested positive for COVID-19. The President has since been tested for COVID-19, and while the results of the test came back negative, he is currently observing mandatory quarantine protocols,” he said in a statement.
“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 got tested for the coronavirus the next day, Jan. 31, which turned out to be negative.
He retested on Feb. 1 and again received a negative result.
According to Department of Health’s (DOH) testing protocols, testing for close contacts of confirmed COVID-19 cases should be done at least five days from the day of exposure.
Nograles also said that Duterte has visited Cardinal Santos Medical Center in San Juan for his “routine medical check-up.”
He, however, did not specify when the visit occurred.
As a senior citizen, Duterte is considered vulnerable to COVID-19.
He has so far received three doses of the China-made Sinopharm vaccine.
READ: Palace: Sinopharm booster shot had no adverse effect yet on Duterte
Duterte’s state of health has been a recurring issue in his presidency given his advanced age, especially since he refuses to make his medical records public.
The 76-year-old President had admitted publicly that he has, among other things, Buerger’s disease and Barrett’s esophagus. He had been experiencing occasional headaches and has spinal issues, which he attributed to a motorcycle accident when he was 68 years old.
He has also been revealed to take sleeping pills and the highly addictive Fentanyl and to have myasthenia gravis–an autoimmune disease that destroys muscle receptors and can result in the drooping of eyelids or overall weakness.
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