Medialdea tested negative for COVID-19, says PSG chief

Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea has tested negative for COVID-19 after some members of the Presidential Security Group (PSG) assigned to secure him contracted the disease, PSG commander Colonel Jesus Durante III said Wednesday.

According to a report of dzBB’s Tuesday Niu, the PSG personnel who tested positive for the virus are now under quarantine and remain asymptomatic. Durante also said they have conducted contact tracing.

In a separate statement, Durante said the infected PSG members, which include two officers and six enlisted personnel, did not have any close contact with President Rodrigo Duterte.

“PSG also assures the public of the President’s safety despite this unfortunate situation as we continually implement the strict health protocols to our personnel and their dependents to guarantee that the President is safe and healthy,” he said.

“The President’s close-in security personnel further endure being at a separated billeting area to limit their contact even from their comrades and loved ones."

Durante earlier said PSG troopers and their dependents undergo COVID-19 rapid testing every two weeks to detect the virus.

“This is to ensure that PSG troopers do not become a threat, themselves, to the President and guarantee that his safety is not compromised in any way,” the PSG chief said in May after one personnel yielded a positive result following a swab test.— AOL/RSJ, GMA News