FILE PHOTO: President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. REUTERS
Eight days after he was sworn into office, President Marcos tested positive for COVID-19, Malacañang announced on Friday.
This was the second time he contracted the coronavirus. He first tested positive at the start of the pandemic in March, 2020, following a trip to Spain. Marcos recalled that experience briefly in his inaugural speech on June 30.
“The President has tested positive in an antigen test for COVID-19. He has a slight fever but he is otherwise OK,” Press Secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles said at a Palace press briefing on Friday afternoon.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire, who joined the briefing, said the President would be quarantined for a week. Neither she nor Angeles were at liberty to disclose where Mr. Marcos would be isolated.
“After that, if his symptoms have resolved already, he may be able to go back to work and have his face-to-face activities,” Vergeire said.
She said an antigen test administered on a symptomatic individual is considered accurate.
Marcos has yet to name his health secretary, but on Thursday, Vergeire referred to a memorandum on financial assistance to cancer patients that is “already for signing of the incoming secretary of health.”
The President’s oldest son, Sandro, had tested negative, according to Angeles.
The first-term congressman had joined his father last Wednesday in a meeting at Malacañang with officials of the Department of Health (DOH).
Angeles said Sandro’s brothers, Simon and Vincent, and mother, first lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, were “out of town.”
Asked where they had gone, the press secretary replied in a text message: “Can’t say that … for security reasons.”
Angeles said she, Executive Secretary Victor Rodriguez and other officials “who are constantly in contact with” the President have tested negative for COVID-19, while government appointees who went to the Palace on Wednesday for their oath-taking have been asked “to observe their symptoms as per the protocol.”
Marcos’ schedule
Upon assuming office on June 30, Marcos met with diplomats, with several other officials, and with members of his Cabinet whom he swore into office. That evening, he hosted an inaugural dinner.
The next day, the President attended Mass at the San Miguel church within the Malacañang complex, joined by Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte and other Cabinet officials. Then he flew to Clark, Pampanga, to attend the 75th anniversary commemoration of the Philippine Air Force.
Another party was held at the Palace on the night of July 2, the birthday of the President’s mother, former first lady Imelda Marcos.
The Palace did not release a schedule of Mr. Marcos’ activities on Sunday.
On Monday he led his first flag-raising ceremony in Malacañang, then went to the Department of Agriculture’s main office in Quezon City for a meeting with officials there.
On Tuesday he held his first Cabinet meeting and met with reporters for his first press briefing as President.
Among his activities on Wednesday were the meeting with DOH officials and the courtesy call in the afternoon by visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
On Thursday the President met with officials of the Department of Energy and with stakeholders in the agriculture sector, and also led the oath-taking of former Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana as chair of the Bases Conversion and Development Authority and of other officials.
Booster inoculation slow
Angeles said Marcos could not attend the Independence Day activities of the US Embassy yesterday. But he attended via online a meeting of the League of Governors and Mayors, which was also held face to face.
She also said “the President encourages the public to get their vaccine series and boosters.”
Earlier, Vergeire acknowledged the slow rollout of booster shots across the country, as she noted that Metro Manila still had the highest booster coverage at 43 percent.
“The rest of the regions are very low in their booster uptake. That’s why we want to closely monitor these regions that are lagging behind so we can increase the level of vaccination in their area,” she said on Friday morning at the online Laging Handa briefing.
According to her, booster vaccination had “plateaued” since March, averaging only around 200,000 shots daily.
“If we [stick to] this rate per day, we won’t be able to reach our targets with our set timelines,” Vergeire said.
The National Vaccination Operations Center, which she now heads, is applying to the government’s booster target the 70 percent of the 110-million total population set by the previous administration for primary doses.
Vergeire said about 40 million Filipinos eligible for a first booster shot have yet to avail themselves of this inoculation.
Among the strategies to ramp up booster vaccination are the resumption of the scheduling of national vaccination days as well as “outreach and setting-based campaigns,” Vergeire said. —WITH A REPORT FROM KATHLEEN DE VILLA