Pacquiao tests negative for COVID-19

SEN. Emmanuel “Manny” Pacquiao on Monday said he and members of his family tested negative for the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

Pacquiao made the announcement following a tiff with officials of Dasmariñas Village in Makati City, who said members of his household should not leave their house as they could be virus carriers based on social media posts showing a party being held in his house with some personalities who later tested positive for the disease.

Pacquiao said had himself tested using a rapid testing kit similar to the one used in South Korea. The result showed negative but just to make sure, he underwent the more reliable real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test on the advice of Dr. Rontgene Solante, head of the Infectious Disease Department of the San Lazaro Hospital.

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He said both tests showed him negative for the virus.

Dasmariñas Village officials led by Rossana Hwang barred the Pacquiao household from leaving the premises of their residence after videos showed him partying with lawmakers and other political personalities, including Sen. Aquilino  “Koko” Pimentel III, days before the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) was imposed on March 15.

Pacquiao has said the alleged “party” was actually a political meeting and was held long before Pimentel was possibly exposed to a COVID carrier.

Pimentel learned he was positive for COVID-19 on March 24 while he was at hospital in Makati City accompanying his wife, when he was supposed to be on self-quarantine.

“This event happened on March 4, 2020. I am sure our Dasmariñas Village guards have records of this if only proper verification was made. Let me also emphasize that it was not ‘partying’ as stated in your letter. It was a political meeting. The word ‘partying’ casts me as someone insensitive to the current crisis of the nation,” Pacquiao said in a letter to Hwang.

 `NEW NORMAL’ 

 Pacquiao said said he will file a “New Normal” bill which aims to strictly implement guidelines for social distancing to protect human lives while a vaccine for COVID-19 has yet to be developed.

He said there might be also a need to change the way businesses are conducted to minimize the possibility of viral transmission especially in the retail and food business.

“In short, itong social distancing ang magiging ‘new normal’ sa panahon ng COVID (social distancing will be the new normal while we still have the COVID-19 pandemic). And I think we cannot enforce this properly without the force of law. That is why I will be pushing this New Normal Law so that we can enforce it and require people to follow it. Ito ay hindi para lang sa kanila kundi maging sa kanilang mga mahal sa buhay (This is for everybody’s sake),” Pacquiao added.

He said the current practice of social distancing inside supermarkets might be enforced even after the ECQ is lifted to avoid physical contacts that can jumpstart another contagion, adding that restaurants, eateries and other food businesses might also need to adopt tighter social distancing and hygiene measures to discourage physical contact among customers and at the same time avoid food contamination.

“Instead of the usual shopping practices where people flock to the supermarket to buy whatever they want and stay there for as long as they please, the ‘New Normal Law’ might now require people to have  a ‘shopping list’ and would be required to shop with a time limit,” Pacquiao said.

He said other places of convergence such as concert halls, and sports arenas might no longer have to be watched “on site” but can just be broadcast live on television. There might be also a need to re-program various television shows that require audience participation.

He added churches might also need to observe new protocols in doing services to avoid physical contacts among their followers.

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