Manny Pacquiao and his family are in quarantine.
The Pacquiaos were instructed to isolate themselves after the boxer came in contact with a fellow senator who tested positive for coronavirus, according to the Filipino website ABS.CBN.com.
Pacquiao was seen in a photo with Senate President Aquilino Pimentel, who later was diagnosed with the virus. As a result, health authorities in his Manila neighborhood made its recommendation.
“Many of your colleagues in Senate have been identified to be COVID positive. Therefore you have to be quarantined at your own house,” Dasmariñas Village Barangay Captain Rossana Hwang said in an official letter.
“… This was the recommendation of doctors from Makati Medical Center who is (sic) also a resident here. And recommended by Makati Health Department. Please be a model example.”
A Pacquiao representative issued a statement to ABS.CBN.com saying, “Sen. Manny says he will always follow the law.” The representative added that Pacquiao and has family had already been in quarantine before receiving the letter.
Pacquiao said last week that he was buying testing kits and face masks in the fight against the pandemic. He also has donated buses to transport medical personnel to where they are needed in Manila
He told The Manila Bulletin he will work with his fellow citizens where ever he has to, even if it puts him at risk of infection.
He told The Bulletin that he was “not afraid to die.” He said it was his duty to help fellow Filipinos.
‘If you are a leader, you have to be a front-liner,’’ Pacquiao said. “You have to lead people and let people see that you are with them. I grew up poor. I know what they feel.”
According the The Bulletin, Pacquiao has helped pay for testing devices and surgical masks. He said he was waiting on a shipment 50,000 more testing kits from China.
As of Saturday, the Philippines has reported that 1,075 people have been diagnosed with coronavirus. Sixty-eight people have died.
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Manny Pacquiao on front lines fighting coronavirus in Philippines