The Senate will be closed from Jan. 10 to 16, Senate President Vicente Sotto III said Friday after a number of employees of the chamber tested positive for COVID-19.
Forty-six employees of the Senate are sick with COVID-19 as of Friday while 175 others are in quarantine due to exposure to infected individuals, or are showing symptoms of the disease, Sotto said.
Sotto said he would heed the recommendation of the Senate's medical team to close the chamber's premises for seven days for disinfection.
"Nobody can enter the Senate premises except those that will do the disinfection on Jan. 8 and 15," Sotto said.
COVID-19 cases in the Philippines are on the rise again in what health authorities assume is a surge driven by the hyper-contagious Omicron coronavirus variant.
READ: GUIDE: Hospitals Offering COVID Home Care Programs
On Thursday, the Philippines tallied 17,220 new COVID-19 cases as authorities project the surge to peak by the end of January.
Over the past few days, several public personalities have confirmed testing positive for COVID-19 such as presidential aspirant Sen. Ping Lacson, broadcaster Karen Davila, and former Miss Universe Pia Wurtzbach.
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