Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 19) — The Office of the Vice President will temporarily suspend its operations after several of its staff tested positive for COVID-19.
In a statement Sunday, Atty. Barry Gutierrez, spokesperson of Vice President Leni Robredo, said a staffer who had been active in COVID-19 response operations tested positive for the virus last week.
“Following our safety protocols, office work was immediately suspended, and testing was done for concerned OVP personnel working at the office or deployed in the field, including Vice President Leni Robredo,” he said.
While Robredo’s test came out negative, three more staffers tested positive for COVID-19.
“The office has already started contact tracing procedures to identify all those who have interacted with the four staffers that tested positive. But as a consequence of this unfortunate development, office operations at the OVP will temporarily be suspended to make way for a full disinfection procedure,” said Gutierrez.
In a separate statement on her Facebook page, Robredo said office work has been suspended since Thursday and would remain so until disinfection was completed.
“We will be managing all our other programs remotely but our operations will resume as soon as all the protocols have been followed strictly,” she said.
Meanwhile, Gutierrez said they would not be deterred by this incident.
“This virus will not slow us down. This virus will not beat us,” he said.
