MANILA, Philippines — The number of active coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases at the Presidential Communications Operations Office and its attached agencies rose to 25 Sunday, including two employees of the unit that will document President Rodrigo Duterte's state of the nation address (SONA).
Most of the active cases, 19 of them, are working for the PCOO while the rest are connected with attached agencies.
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Two of the infected persons work for Radio Television Malacañang, or RTVM, which provides broadcast coverage of the activities of the president and other executive branch officials.
Two other persons who tested positive for the virus work for the Philippine Information Agency while the People's Television and APO Production Unit have one active case each.
The PCOO and its attached agencies have so far logged 27 COVID-19 cases, including two employees who have died because of the disease. One of the fatalities was connected with PCOO while one worked for APO.
PCOO Secretary Martin Andanar said the infected persons caught the virus while performing their duties to the public, some of them involved in the production of communication materials, television and radio programs that support the government's daily briefings.
"Upon the confirmation of COVID-19 case last July 21, 2020, our office immediately conducted testing and contact tracing of primary and secondary contacts of the patient among our staff to minimize the transmission of the virus. From thereon, we have intensified our testing and contact tracing to include all of our skeleton workforce in order to ensure everyone’s safety," Anadanar said.
"We continue to assist and support the family of those who have been infected by COVID-19, in the same way we ensure the safety of all of our personnel against the virus," he added.