MANILA - The House of Representatives on Wednesday reported 2 more COVID-19 cases, raising its total to 42.

The first is a female staffer of the House Committee on Rules who reported for work from July 20 to Aug. 5 and underwent testing after experiencing symptoms of loss of sense of smell and decreased sense of taste, according to House Secretary General Jose Luis Montales.

The second is a male personnel of the Grounds Maintenance Group who reported for work from July 20 to 30 and had close contact with another staff who tested positive for COVID-19, Montales said.

"He is asymptomatic. Contact tracing is ongoing," he added.

It was not immediately clear if Senior Citizens' Rep. Francisco Datol was included in the official tally of the House. Datol's office confirmed Tuesday that he died from COVID-19.

• Senior Citizens party-list lawmaker Jun Datol passes away

The Philippines on Tuesday reported 139,538 cases of the novel coronavirus, with 68,432 recoveries and 2,312 deaths.

• Coronavirus infections in Philippines near 140,000-mark