MANILA, Philippines – Education Secretary Leonor Briones on Monday morning, April 13, said she is now negative for the novel coronavirus, after announcing on April 9 that she had contracted the virus. 

“Early this morning nag-text sa akin si [Health] Secretary [Francisco] Duque na ang resulta ng test ko, sa akin lamang, ay negative (Early this morning, I received a text message from Health Secretary Duque that my test result is negative),” Briones said in an interview aired on GMA. 

The 79-year-old Briones has been in isolation since April 8 upon learning that she had contracted the virus based from a swab test taken on April 2. 

It remains unclear if this is Briones’ second negative result for the coronavirus. The Department of Health says that a coronavirus patient needs to have two negative results to be declared fully recovered from the virus.

Rappler has reached out to Briones for comment, but she has yet to respond as of this posting. 

The new virus has infected at least 19 government officials in the country. 

As of Sunday, the Philippines registered 4,648 cases of coronavirus, with 297 deaths. – Rappler.com