Duterte in quarantine after staff tests positive for COVID

Manila: President Rodrigo Duterte has been undergoing quarantine after being exposed to a household staff who tested positive for COVID-19, but he tested negative for the virus, his spokesperson said Thursday (February 3, 2022).

Duterte, 76, has so far received three doses of the China-made Sinopharm vaccine, according to local media reports.

Cabinet Secretary and acting presidential spokesman Karlo Nograles said: “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.”

“The Chief Executive continues to work while in quarantine, and is in constant communication with the members of 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,” he added.

On Sunday (January 30), Duterte was exposed to the COVID-positive household staff, said Nograles. The president was tested for COVID the next day, January 31, which turned out to be negative. On February 1, another retest was conducted, which again turned negative.

The Department of Health’s (DOH) testing protocol requires testing for close contacts of confirmed COVID-19 cases five days from the day of exposure.

The president's spokesperson said that Duterte has visited Cardinal Santos Medical Center in San Juan for his “routine medical check-up.” He did not state when the visit occurred.