Two more House employees test positive for COVID-19 — SecGen

Two more employees at the House of Representatives have tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total number of cases recorded at the chamber to 16.

House Secretary General Jose Luis Montales made the announcement on Tuesday in a statement shared with reporters.

According to Montales, the first of the two new cases is a congressional staff who last reported for work on July 2.

The said staff briefly went to their office on July 6 and interacted only with his principal and co-staff members.

Meanwhile, the second new case is a security staff who suffers from renal problems. He last reported for work on March 12.

It was only on Monday that the 14th case of COVID-19 in the House was reported: another security staff who last went on rotational duty on June 14. Last Saturday, the House also announced that a security staff tested positive for COVID-19

"Let’s pray for the speedy recovery of our confirmed cases and the well-being of their families," Montales said.

In the past two weeks, the chamber reported cases of COVID-19 among their personnel almost every day.

On July 1, 2, and 5, it announced that three of its employees tested positive for the disease. Back in March, another House employee who tested positive for COVID-19 died.

As of July 13, a total of 57,006 cases of COVID-19 have been reported in the Philippines, with 1,599 deaths and 20,371 recoveries. — RSJ, GMA News