House of Representatives records 2 new COVID-19 cases; total now at 26

MANILA, Philippines — The House of Representatives recorded two new confirmed COVID-19 cases as of Thursday, House Secretary General Jose Luis Montales said.

Montales said in an announcement that one of the new cases is an employee assigned at the Human Resources Management Service, while the other is with the Grounds Maintenance Group.

According to him, the Human Resource employee is the aunt of another employee from the Procurement and Supply Management Service who also tested positive for the coronavirus.

“We have two (2) new confirmed cases: The first is an employee assigned at the Human Resources Management Service. She last reported for work on July 20 and got tested on July 25 after experiencing some symptoms,” Montales said.

“The second is an employee assigned at Grounds Maintenance Group who last reported for work on July 21 and got tested on July 26 after experiencing fever.  Contact tracing is ongoing,” he added.

As of now, there are 26 confirmed cases among House employees while three have died.

Montales, meanwhile clarified, that two of the housekeeping staffers and the driver of Deputy Speaker and Surigao del Sur Rep. Johnny Pimentel who tested positive before the State of the Nation Address are not House employees.

Earlier, the Department of Health and the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) said that there are 3,954 new COVID-19 cases in the country, bringing the total number to 89,374.

Of this number, 1,983 patients have died while 65,064 have recovered after DOH reported that over 38,000 additional patients have beaten the disease.

CFC