The Department of Health (DOH) confirmed on Friday two new novel coronavirus (COVID-19) cases in the Philippines, one of which may possibly be the first local transmission in the country.
Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said that the first Filipino patient is a 48-year-old man who has a recent travel history in Japan. The man was said to have returned to the Philippines last February 25 and was confirmed with the contagious disease on March 5.
“The patient returned to the Philippines last February 25 and experienced chills and fever beginning March 3. The patient sought medical consultation at a hospital and samples were collected for testing,” said Duque in a press conference.
The patient is said to be stable and is currently admitted at the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine.
The second Filipino patient is a 62-year-old man who was said to frequent a local Muslim prayer hall in San Juan City has no travel history outside of the country and is believed to be the first locally transmitted COVID-19 case in the Philippines.
The patient experience coughing last February 25 and was admitted to a hospital in Manila on March 1 with severe pneumonia. The patient is also known to have hypertension and diabetes.
“It can be considered a local case,” said Duque. “There is no transmission to speak of, as of yet, because we only have one. That’s why we’re doing contract tracing, to establish whether or not there are other cases or clustering of cases. But now, it is premature to say that there is a local transmission,”
This brings the number of total confirmed cases to five in the Philippines, three of which are Chinese nationals who originated from Wuhan. One of the three has died, the other has recovered from the disease, and the third has left the country.
Recently, 39 patients are under investigation of the COVID-19 in the Philippines, including 13 trainees from South Korea. The cumulative number of persons under investigation in the country was 662, but 620 tested negative and were discharged from hospitals.
Foreign nationals also infected from Philippines
A 60-year-old woman and a 30-year-old Taiwanese was infected by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) after returning to their countries from their trip in the Philippines.
According to the New South Wales (NSW) Ministry of Health in Australia on March 5, Thursday, the elderly woman who arrived in Australia tested positive for the COVID-19 after traveling back from the Philippines via Cebu Pacific flight 5J39.
“Her travel details are being obtained and will be disclosed if she posed a risk to any other passengers on her flight,” said the NSW Government on their website.
The woman is added to the list of six new confirmed cases of COVID-19 across Sydney which brings the number of total confirmed cases to 22 in Australia.
Meanwhile, a 30-year-old man from Taiwan also contracted the virus after returning from their trip with his friends from the Philippines. The man was in the Philippines from February 28 to March 3.
The Taiwan Center for Disease Control said that the man who traveled for five days in the Philippines had diarrhea on March 2 and went to get checked for dry throat and tiredness. He was later confirmed to have the coronavirus disease after a laboratory test.
The Taiwanese man becomes the 44th confirmed infected by COVID-19 in his country.
DOH Assistant Secretary Maria Rosario Vergeire told the CNN Philippines that they are investigating the reports of foreign nationals being infected by the virus which have raised concerns of undetected local transmission in parts of the country.
“For now, we have scant information but we started with what we have to do tracing and investigation,” Vergeire told CNN Philippines.
Vergeire also said that the DOH is also coordinating with international partners and health ministries to gather more information about the foreigners who contracted the coronavirus disease after traveling in the Philippines.
As of writing, there are more than 95,000 cases of COVID-19 recorded globally and 3,300 deaths, most of which came from Hubei, China, which is believed to be the epicenter of the outbreak, with a number of 80,409 infected and 3,012 casualties.