Majority Leader Joel Villanueva tested positive for the third time for COVID-19. (File photo from the Senate Public Relations and Information Bureau)
MANILA, Philippines — Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva has tested positive for COVID-19 for the third time, noting that he had been suffering from “fever-like symptoms.”
“Can’t believe that we got COVID-19 for the third time. I started not feeling well last Thursday which, initially, I thought was just because of my knee injury. I took an antigen test today because I started feeling worse with fever-like symptoms, and unfortunately, I tested positive,” he told reporters in a message on Sunday.
Villanueva recalled that his activities last week only revolved around the Senate and his home, and yet, he was hit with the pandemic virus again.
“I have isolated myself while waiting for the results of our RT-PCR (Reverse Transcription – Polymerase Chain Reaction) [test],” he said partly in Filipino.
Villanueva said he would be working remotely on Monday, noting that the Senate has in its agenda three bills for approval on the third and final reading.
He also said that the proposed Trabaho Para sa Bayan measure, which he filed and sponsored, will be up for second reading.
Villanueva first tested positive for COVID-19 in January last year. Months later, he contracted the virus again – around the same time as some of his fellow lawmakers.
The increasing number of infected senators then prompted the chamber to go on a three-week lockdown, which began on Aug. 15.
On Sunday, the Department of Health reported 1,912 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the number of active infections in the country to 16,422.
The nationwide positivity rate, according to independent pandemic monitor OCTA Research, is now at 24.1 percent.