Interior Secretary Eduardo Año will remain on leave until the end of February, a Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) said on Friday.

Año’s leave of absence started on Jan. 11 and was supposed to end on Jan. 31.

In a Manila Bulletin report, Interior Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya said that Año is “is well, resting and regaining his health.”

Año contracted Covid-19 twice last year. He filed his leave of absence to “pace himself, to get plenty of rest, to prioritize his health and to further undergo some tests,” Malaya earlier said.

Año first contracted Covid-19 in March last year. He tested positive again in August.

Malaya said that since Año’s second positive Covid-19 test, the interior chief had been “working even during Sundays, holidays and even at night,” and that he had not taken a single day of leave until this month.

Interior Undersecretary Bernardo Florece is in charge during Año’s absence John Ezekiel J. Hirro