MANILA, Philippines (Update 1, 5:10 p.m.) — President Rodrigo Duterte will be working under a doctor's medical supervision from here on, Sen. Bong Go confirmed on Thursday.
According to Go, the president's former aide and de facto spokesperson, Duterte would continue to work and would opt not to undergo self-quarantine for now.
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This, despite the chief executive's consistent and close contact with Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, who has been confirmed to undergo self-quarantine.
Duque was tested for possible transmission of the new coronavirus and will be working from home for the time being. His results have not been released as of this writing.
On Tuesday, Go also disclosed that the Duterte family, including presidential children Paolo, Sebastian and Veronica and his partner Honeylet Avanceña got tested for COVID-19.
Asked about the reason behind the family's decision to have themselves tested, Go said, “Para makasigurado (Just to be sure)."
The president has already tested negative earlier, although this was before his interactions with Duque this week.
It is unclear if the decision to place him under medical supervision is linked to the Health secretary's decision, and Duque has yet to respond to Philstar.com's request for comment.
Sara Duterte-Carpio, the chief executive's eldest daughter, also tested negative for the virus after she underwent self-quarantine owing to her attendance at a hearing at the Senate hours before it was placed on lockdown on March 11.
According to the Health department's screening tool for possible cases, the three factors indicating possible contraction of the virus are signs and symptoms, travel history, and history of exposure to confirmed cases or other persons under investigation.
On Wednesday afternoon, the Health department declared 15 additional confirmed cases, bringing the national total to 217 patients.