One of the highest leaders of the Catholic Church in the Philippines, Bishop Broderick Pabillo, said Thursday he tested positive for COVID-19 with no symptoms, underscoring the spread of the disease under looser quarantines.
Pabillo, the apostolic administrator of the Archdiocese of Manila, said he would go on quarantine. “My condition is being monitored and I take healthy food and vitamins, and do physical exercise,” he said in a statement posted on the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines website.
“I know this virus will pass, so please do not worry about me, although prayers would be very much appreciated,” he said. “Since I am in my normal self, thank God, the scheduled online meetings that we have set will continue. Life must go on.”
Also this week, the office of Vice President Leni Robredo said four staffers tested positive for the disease. Eight Presidential Security Group members assigned to Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea were also confirmed to have COVID-19. Total infections in the country recently breached the 70,000-mark and Metro Manila has until the end of July to slow infections or risk being rolled back into a lockdown or modified enhanced community quarantine.
