De Lima tests positive for COVID-19

Former senator Leila de Lima on Monday announced that she tested positive for COVID-19.

In a dispatch, the former lawmaker said her antigen and RT-PCR  tests both yielded positive results.

"When attending recent hearings in the [two] remaining trumped-up charges, with practically jampacked courtrooms, I felt it was just a matter of time before contracting the virus. So it is that last Saturday, Nov. 5, or a day after the hearing in one of the cases, I started having colds (running nose), mild cough, itchy throat and joint/body aches short of feverish, which prompted the tests," De Lima said.

"Now in self-isolation (nothing new for me) in my isolated detention quarters. Taking anti-viral meds as prescribed by my doctors. Resting, reading a novel, praying," she added.

De Lima said she already instructed her staff members to advise those whom she interacted with during last week's hearing including former Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) officer-in-charge Rafael Ragos, who apologized to the former senator during their brief encounter last Friday.

Aside from Ragos, De Lima said her staff also informed their lawyers, prosecutors, court personnel, Philippine National Police escorts, and close-in female guards about her COVID-19 situation.

"I hope no one else got infected under such a setting. I’ll be fine," she said.

Due to De Lima’s health condition, Muntinlupa City Regional Trial Court Presiding Judge Romeo Buenaventura cancelled the hearing set on Monday, November 7, and reset it to November 21 and December 5.—Hana Bordey/AOL, GMA Integrated News