At least 19 Catholic seminarians in the Diocese of San Jose de Antique were reported to have been infected with COVID-19.
The seminarians of St. Peter’s Seminary underwent “swab” testing on Sunday, April 11, and got the results on Tuesday, April 13, said Bishop Marvyn Maceda of Antique in a statement.
The prelate said ten other seminarians were tested negative of the virus while five were still waiting for the result of the tests.
“The affected seminarians already transferred themselves to the St. John Vianney Center within the seminary compound for the needed isolation,” read the bishop’s statement.
He said most of those affected were asymptomatic “while three or four have very mild symptoms.”
“We join you in prayers for the fast recovery of our seminarians,” said Bishop Maceda.
The Department of Health on Tuesday reported 8,571 new coronavirus cases, raising the nationwide tally to 884,783.
The Health department said the update does not yet cover the latest data from nine testing laboratories that have yet to submit their results.
Active cases account for 165,534 or 18.7% of the total infected in the country. Up to 96.9% are tagged as mild, 1.8% as asymptomatic, 0.4% as critical, 0.5% as severe, and 0.31% as moderate.
Another 137 fatalities also brought the COVID-19 death toll to 15,286, including 54 who were mistakenly classified as recoveries in previous reports.
Meanwhile, the number of survivors rose to 703,963, with 400 more confirmed.
