Cardinal Tagle has tested positive for COVID-19

Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle has tested positive for COVID-19, the news service of the media office of the  Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines has reported.

Quoting a tweet by Vatican News, the report said Tagle tested positive for COVID-19 upon arrival in Manila.

Tagle, the former archbishop of Manila, is the Vatican's prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.  

Vatican News reported that the Holy See Press Office had confirmed that Tagle has tested positive for the virus after a swab test.

It said Tagle became the first head of a Vatican dicastery with COVID-19.

JUST IN: Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle tests positive for #coronavirus after arriving in the Philippines yesterday, Vatican News reported. #Covid19 pic.twitter.com/zvVbCRDyF7

— CBCPNews (@cbcpnews) September 11, 2020

Matteo Bruni, the director of the Holy See Press Office, was quoted as saying that Tagle did not have any symptoms and would remain in mandatory self-quarantine in the Philippines.

Bruni said necessary checks were being carried out among those who have come into contact with Tagle recently.

Tagle had himself tested in Rome on September 7 but the result then turned out negative.

He recently criticized persons taking advantage of the global COVID-19 crisis to make hefty profits.

“As many people are suffering and getting poorer, there are some businesses and probably individuals who are taking advantage of the situation,” Tagle said.

“And they know how to capitalize on the sorrow and the needs of others for their profitability,” he added.

Manila Archdiocese Apostolic Administrator Bishop Broderick Pabillo  in late July tested positive for COVID-19 but has since been negative for the disease. -NB, GMA News