President Duterte is currently undergoing quarantine after being exposed to a household staff who tested positive for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles made the statement following rumors that President Duterte was rushed to a hospital.
In a statement Thursday, Feb. 3, Nograles said that Duterte was under quarantine after being exposed to a COVID patient.
The rumor spread amid the lack of a "Talk to the People" public briefing for over a week now. The President personally leads such public briefings.
He, however, assured the public that the 76-year-old President was already tested and was not infected by the virus.
"The Palace confirms that President Rodrigo Roa Duterte was recently exposed to household staff who tested positive for COVID-19," he said.
"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," Nograles added.
Despite this, the acting Palace spokesman assured the public that the mandatory quarantine will not stop the President from performing his duties.
"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 said.
In a subsequent statement Thursday, Nograles bared that the President’s last day of exposure to a COVID positive case was last Sunday, Jan. 30.
"His RT-PCR (reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction) negative test result was last Monday, Jan. 31, 2022, and tested negative again for the second time on Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2022," he said.
Nograles also confirmed that Duterte visited Cardinal Santos Medical Center in San Juan City "for his routine medical check-up only". However, the Palace official did not say when the hospital visit took place, or identified Duterte's place of quarantine.