Philippine Secretary of the Interior Eduardo Ano has tested positive for COVID-19 five months after an initial diagnosis, authorities said yesterday, as experts investigate whether he had been reinfected.
Ano, who is helping to spearhead the nation’s virus response, said he returned a positive test on Saturday after experiencing flu-like symptoms last week. He was first diagnosed with COVID-19 in March, but did not show any signs of the disease at the time.
People infected with COVID-19 build up antibodies starting about a week after infection or the onset of symptoms, research has shown.
Photo: AFP / King Rodriguez / PSD
However, scientists are still unsure whether the body systematically builds up enough immunity to ward off a new attack by the virus or, if it does, how long such immunity lasts.
Some studies have shown that patients who recover from COVID-19 might lose their immunity within months, or even weeks.
Undersecretary of Health Maria Rosario Vergeire said experts were analyzing Ano’s symptoms, his previous positive test and laboratory results to see if this is a second infection.
“Let’s not call it a reinfection. The scientific community has not yet accepted that a reinfection occurs,” she said.
Ano was tested ahead of a meeting yesterday with Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and other key Cabinet members to decide whether to extend a two-week lockdown in Manila and four surrounding provinces that is due to expire this week.
The government wants to allow more economic activity and extend aid to small businesses after 27.3 million Filipinos in a Social Weather Stations survey early last month said they were jobless, presidential spokesman Harry Roque said.
“We are aware that COVID will be here for long, not just in the Philippines, but around the world. We already know how to live with, in spite of and despite of COVID,” he said at a televised briefing yesterday.
Duterte is to announce either an extension or easing of the restrictions before the tightened curbs implemented in Metro Manila and nearby provinces lapse today, Roque said.
The Department of Trade is also pushing for looser movement restrictions in the capital region to enable more people to go to work, Secretary of Trade Ramon Lopez said.
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