MANILA (Reuters) – Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has tested positive for COVID-19 but remains healthy enough to hold meetings online, he said on Tuesday.
The president’s communications office said on its Facebook page that Marcos would isolate himself for five days. He did not say when he tested positive for the virus.
“The president continues to have compatibility to carry out his duties and will continue with his scheduled meetings via teleconference,” he said.
Marcos, 66, was last seen in public on Saturday while attending a family day on the grounds of the presidential palace.
It canceled its events on Tuesday, adding a stopover in Mindanao City in the southern Philippines to care for those affected by Sunday’s bombing and others displaced by Saturday night’s violent earthquakes and aftershocks.
Marcos previously contracted the virus in 2020, according to his spokesman at the time and received his second booster dose at a vaccination campaign by the health department last year.
The Philippines recorded 1,340 new cases of the virus over the past week, according to data from the Department of Health.
The Philippines has more than 4. 1 million confirmed cases of COVID-19, most of whom have recovered.
(Reporting by Mikhail Flores; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)
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