DOJ reports first confirmed COVID-19 case

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has reported the first confirmed case of COVID-19 among its employees.

Justice Undersecretary Markk Perete said Tuesday that one of the employees earlier found positive in the rapid test also tested positive in a confirmatory test. The employee is asymptomatic, he said.

Two other employees who have undergone a second swab test after the first confirmatory test yielded inconclusive results, he said.

As of Sunday, 68 out of 536 employees at the DOJ's main office in Manila were found positive of COVID-19 through rapid testing, according to Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra.

Four outsourced personnel were also found positive, Guevarra said, bringing the total number of possible cases in the DOJ to 72, as of Sunday. Outsourced personnel include security and maintenance staff.

"Many of them immediately underwent swab tests in various government and private hospitals and are now awaiting the results of these tests," Guevarra said Sunday.

The national case total as of Monday afternoon was 26,420, according to the Department of Health.

Of this number, 6,252 patients have recovered and 1,098 have died. Of the 18,888 active cases, 97.5% (18,412) were "mild" and 2.1% (398) were asymptomatic. A total of 61 cases were classified as "severe" and 17 as "critical."—AOL, GMA News