Education chief tests positive for Covid-19

Briones was first tested on March 13, after being exposed to a person with Covid-19 during a Senate hearing. (File photo: DepEd Philippines/Facebook)

MANILA — Education Secretary Leonor Briones on Thursday said she is positive for coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) after being tested for the disease the second time.

“As a government official and Cabinet member, and as a Filipino, it is my duty to announce that yesterday late afternoon, April 8, 2020, I was informed by the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine that I am positive for SARS-COV-2, the causative agent of Covid-19,” Briones said in a statement.

Briones was first tested on March 13, after being exposed to a person with Covid-19 during a Senate hearing.

“Similar with other Cabinet members, I was tested to ensure that there was no threat to my functioning as Education Secretary, and to protect my fellow Cabinet members and the president. I received the result on March 16; it was negative,” she said.

On April 2, Briones had undergone another test after another Cabinet member, who attended a critical Cabinet meeting with her on March 23, said he was tested and declared positive for Covid-19.

“I remain asymptomatic. My body temperature, which is taken three times a day, remains normal. I am going on isolation. However, like my fellow Cabinet member, I will continue working virtually – attend IATF meetings, preside over Department of Education Execom and Mancom, and make all decisions necessary to keep DepEd in full operation,” Briones said.

She also urged everyone who had a physical contact with her to go on precautionary home quarantine.

The DepEd has coordinated with the Department of Health for the contact tracing and other necessary interventions following its protocols.

“It is my hope and fervent prayer that we will recover as a nation and that our spirit of bayanihan will pull us through. With God’s grace, we will heal as one,” Briones said.