Chief Justice Peralta tests negative from COVID-19 after travel, showing symptoms

Chief Justice Diosdado M. Peralta orients the judges on the Rule on Administrative Search and Inspection under the Philippine Competition Act (PCA) or Republic Act No. 10667, which is aimed at helping in the investigation and prosecution of competition law offenses. Speaking during the Seminar-Workshop for Special Commercial Court Judges and Its Pairing Courts on the Rule on Administrative Search and Inspection under the PCA at the Rizal Park Hotel, Manila on Tuesday, January 21, 2020.
Supreme Court Public Information Office/released

MANILA, Philippines — Chief Justice Diosdado Peralta tested negative on the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), after arriving from a COVID-19 infected country and showing symptoms of the disease.

In a statement Friday, SC Public Information Office said Peralta went to The Hague, Netherlands on an official business trip on March 1 to 7 to attend The Hague Conference (HCCH) on Private International Law General Affairs and Policy Meeting.

Peralta attended the gathering to “witness the deposit of the instrument of accession to the HCCH Service Convention, and to receive a briefing from HCCH Officials on conventions of interest to the Court,” the statement read.

SC PIO said the chief justice did not immediately get tested upon arriving in the Philippines but he later showed symptoms such as persistent coughing and underwent self-quarantine.

Doctors later advised him to get tested for COVID-19 since the chief justice also came from Netherlands where there are 2,052 confirmed cases.

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The Philippines meanwhile recorded 230 infections in the country, while death toll is at 18.

Eight patients have so far recovered from COVID-19.

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