Cebu City, Zamboanga City mayors test positive for COVID-19

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 3) – Two city mayors from the Visayas and Mindanao announced on Tuesday they have tested positive for COVID-19.

Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama and Zamboanga City Mayor John Dalipe both said they are asymptomatic and are undergoing mandatory home isolation.

Rama told reporters in an online briefing that he tested positive in a reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test last July 31, but his wife's test yielded a negative result.

The Cebu City local chief executive added he has informed his close contacts of his situation.

"I am looking at it as a positive note, working at home, with all the piles of papers I have been working on, continuously doing what I am supposed to do,” Rama said.

Meanwhile, Dalipe said he also underwent an RT-PCR test that yielded a positive result.

Dalipe said he has ordered his executive team and department heads to temporarily substitute for him in face-to-face activities, but assured that he will participate virtually.

“Mayor John assures his constituents that he will continue to discharge his duties and responsibilities as mayor and assures that the government transactions and services remain unhampered while completing his mandatory isolation,” said Mayor Dalipe, who is the younger brother of House Majority Leader Mannix of Zambaonga City's 2nd District.

Rama and Dalipe took the RT-PCR test as a requirement for the meeting of the League of Cities of the Philippines (LCP) with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Tuesday at the Malacañan Palace.

Rama was elected as LCP president. He said he has instructed the league's executive vice president, Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte, to lead the meeting with Marcos.