Eight-division boxing champion and Senator Manny Pacquiao and his family have been told by the barangay chairman of Dasmarinas in Makati City to undergo self-quarantine after being exposed to a person who has been diagnosed with COVID-19.
In a letter dated March 27, Dasmariñas Village barangay chairman Rossanna Hwang said Pacquiao is considered a "person under monitoring" and urged the legislator to stay home.
"For your own family and household's safety, please have yourself self quarantined, STAY HOME. No one including any of your household can come out," Hwang said in the letter. "This was the recommendation of doctors from Makati Medical Center who [are] also [residents] here, and by the Makati Health Department. Many of your colleagues in Senate have been identified to be COVID positive. Therefore, you have to be quarantined at your own house. Please be a model example."
Pacquiao has not responded publicly to the official statement.
Videos circulating online recently showed Pacquiao hosting a March 4 part at his residence. Among the attendees was Senator Koko Pimentel, who was diagnosed with COVID-19 on March 19.
Pimentel was criticized for accompanying his pregnant wife to the Makati Medical Center and exposing doctors and other staff in the delivery room.
The Philippines' Department of Heath on Friday confirmed 96 new cases and for a total of 808. There have been 31 recoveries.
The COVID-19 illness causes mild or moderate symptoms in most people, but severe symptoms are more likely in the elderly or those with existing health problems. The majority of people recover from the virus. According to the World Health Organization, people with mild illness recover in about two weeks, and those with more severe illness might take three to six weeks to recover.