Philippine president's spokesman tests positive for COVID-19

MANILA, March 15 (Reuters) - Philippine President Rodrigo
Duterte's spokesman Harry Roque confirmed on Monday he had
tested positive for COVID-19, but said he had not been in
contact with the country's leader since receiving his test
results.
Roque said he regularly got himself tested before meeting
with Duterte so Monday's result "came as a shock".
The last time he was with Duterte was on March 11, he said,
adding he had tested negative the day before the meeting and
kept his distance from the president.
He was asymptomatic and would continue working remotely in
an isolation facility, Roque told a virtual media briefing.
News of Roque's diagnosis comes as the Philippines has been
seeing a surge in COVID-19 cases, with close to 10,000 fresh
infections added to the total tally over the weekend.
The rise in infections has sparked fears of a return to a
complete lockdown, but Roque said that was unlikely, at least
for this month, because the country's hospital capacity remained
below critical levels.
It was exactly a year ago when Duterte imposed one of the
world's longest and strictest lockdowns in the capital Manila
and other provinces to curb the coronavirus spread.
He has gradually eased the restrictions to revive the
economy, which suffered its worst contraction on record last
year.
Duterte has said he would reopen the economy further once
millions have been vaccinated against COVID-19, especially those
living around big cities. The Philippines, which aims to immunise 70 million of its
108 million people, has so far inoculated more than 193,000
since it started its vaccination drive on March 1, the
Department of Health said. It has so far received more than 1.1 million doses of
coronavirus vaccines from China and via the COVAX
vaccine-sharing facility.
Confirmed cases in the Philippines, which include those
caused by new variants, have increased to more than 621,000
while confirmed deaths have reached more than 12,800.