Manila Teachers party-list solon tests negative for COVID-19

Manila Teachers Party-list Representative Virgilio Lacson has tested negative for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), House Secretary General Jose Luis Montales said.

Montales told reporters on Thursday night that the congressman tested negative for the disease despite initial screenings that showed positive results.

“The sample was brought to the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) for final testing and official confirmation. RITM has just relayed the [negative] result,” he said.

Four House members earlier announced that they will undergo self-quarantine after ACT-CIS party-list Representative Eric Go Yap tested positive for COVID-19. 

Yap, who chairs the House Committee on Appropriations, recently met with other top government officials as Congress tackled a measure seeking to grant additional powers to President Rodrigo Duterte.

The disease has so far claimed 45 lives and infected a total of 707 people nationwide as of Thursday afternoon. —Erwin Colcol/Julia Mari Ornedo/LDF, GMA News