COTABATO CITY – Another member of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) legislative body has been infected with coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).
“I am sad to announce and inform the public that I tested positive for Covid-19,” Marjanie Mimbantas-Macasalong, a parliament member of the BARMM’s Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA), said in a statement released on Wednesday evening.
He is the second BARMM executive who acquired the virus over the past two weeks.
Macasalong said he isolated himself on Sept. 6 after experiencing fever, headache, and body ache. His positive result came out Wednesday morning.
“As to how and where I got the virus, I have no idea,” he said, adding he has already advised his family members, office staff, and field workers as well as the people who had close contact with him in the past two weeks to undergo self-isolation and submit themselves for swabbing when necessary.
On Sept. 2, Dr. Saffrullah Dipatuan, BARMM health minister and BTA member, also admitted he and his wife have been infected with Covid-19. Both are now in isolation at Amai Pakpak Medical Center in Marawi City.
Macasalong was among the 10 new confirmed Covid-19 positive patients in the region listed by the health ministry.
In a health bulletin released Wednesday evening, regional health officials said six of the new cases were from Maguindanao and four from Lanao del Sur.
BARMM now has a total of 749 confirmed, 187 of which are active and with 21 fatalities.
Health authorities said 44 have recovered from the virus on Wednesday, raising the number of recovery to 540, or a 72 percent recovery rate.-PNA
