Department of Education (DepEd) Secretary Leonor Briones, 79, announced Thursday that she tested positive for the coronavirus disease.
“As a government official and Cabinet member, and as a Filipino, it is my duty to announce that yesterday late afternoon, April 8, 2020, I was informed by the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine that I am positive for SARS-COV-2, the causative agent of COVID-19,” said Briones in a statement.
The education chief said she tested negative for the virus on her first test last March 13 following exposure to a COVID-19 positive patient. She, however, came out positive on the second test she took last April 2 after being exposed again to a Cabinet member who fell ill with COVID-19.
Briones shared that she remains asymptomatic, adding that her body temperature “which is taken three times a day, remains normal.”
Despite going on isolation, Briones said that she would continue virtually working “to keep DepEd in full operation.”
“I am going on isolation. However, like my fellow Cabinet members, I will continue working — virtually attend IATF meetings, preside over the DepEd EXECOM and MANCOM, and make all decisions necessary to keep DepEd in full operation,” she said.
She also asked everyone who had physical contact with her to go on a precautionary self-quarantine at home.
“DepEd has coordinated with the DOH for the contact tracing and other necessary interventions following their protocols,” said Briones.
“It is my hope and my fervent prayer that we will recover as a nation and that our spirit of bayanihan will pull us through. With God’s grace, we will all heal as one.”
