Roque to be discharged from PGH Thursday after COVID-19 bout

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque is set to be discharged from the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) on Thursday after six days of confinement due to COVID-19.

“Broadcasting for the last time in PGH. I will be discharged today after six days,” Roque said during the day's Palace briefing.

Roque then thanked the doctors, nurses and nursing assistants who took care of him during his confinement, as well as those who prayed for his recovery.

Roque announced his confinement for COVID-19 last April 10. He later said his doctors ordered his confinement after his oxygen level went down to 90 or lower than the normal level of 95.

The Palace spokesperson drew flak for quickly securing a COVID-19 hospital bed despite the scarcity, which caused many patients to receive treatment in hospital tents.

Roque, however, said he did not get special treatment from PGH, a COVID-19 referral hospital.

“I was in an ordinary room. It took four days before I could actually enter. It was only when my oxygen level went down to 90 when I was asked to come in,” he said during the briefing.

Roque earlier said he experienced COVID-19 symptoms on April 5 and tested positive the following day.

Roque, however, could not say if what happened to him was reinfection. He first got infected with COVID-19 on March 15 but was asymptomatic.

Despite requests from the media, Roque declined to show his RT-PCR test results, citing privacy. —KBK, GMA News