Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 5) — Two more Senate employees tested positive for coronavirus antibodies Tuesday after going through a rapid test system, Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III confirmed.
On Monday, 14 Senate employees tested positive for the coronavirus antibodies.
According to Sotto, all were sent to a hospital to undergo a swab test to confirm whether or not they have contracted the coronavirus disease.
The employees will also go into a mandatory quarantine.
According to the Health Department and medical experts, a patient must go through a reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction, or RT-PCR, test to confirm results of a rapid test.
An RT-PCR test can detect the virus itself, while a rapid test can only detect antibodies present in the patient’s blood.
The country now has a total of 9,684 COVID-19 cases, including 1,408 recoveries, and 637 deaths, the DOH reported.
