PRESIDENT Duterte is undergoing mandatory quarantine as he was exposed to one his household staff members who tested positive for COVID-19, but the President has tested negative for the virus, Cabinet Secretary and acting presidential spokesman Karlo Nograles said yesterday.
Nograles said the President continues to work while under quarantine, and is in constant communication with 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.”
“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.
In a message, Nograles said the President was exposed to the staff member on January 30 and was immediately subjected to a reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test. The test result was released on January 31 and a second negative result on February 1.
Nograles would not confirm reports quoting former presidential legal counsel Salvador Panelo as saying Duterte is staying in the Bahay Pagbabago at the PSG Park in Malacañang.
Duterte is fully vaccinated and received his booster shot in January. He received his first dose of Sinopharm vaccine against COVID-19 in May and second dose of Sinopharm vaccine in July last year.
Earlier in the day, reports circulated on social media that the President, a senior citizen, was rushed to the Cardinal Santos Medical Center in San Juan City.
Nograles said the President visited the hospital for “his routine medical check-up only.” It was not clear when the check-up was.
