The Philippines on Friday confirmed two new cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), with one contracted from local transmission, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to five.
The announcement of the Department of Health (DOH) came a day after it was reported that three individuals from Taiwan, Australia and Japan, who previously traveled to the Philippines, all tested positive for coronavirus disease.
FLASH: 2 bagong kaso ng may #COVID19 sa Pilipinas naitala; bilang ng mga nagpositibo sa sakit sa bansa, umakyat na sa 5 — @DOHgovph #DZRHat80 pic.twitter.com/YGCPzslKpx
— DZRH NEWS (@dzrhnews) March 6, 2020
In a press conference, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said that one of the new cases of the deadly virus in the country is a 48-year-old male Filipino who previously traveled to Japan.
The patient arrived in the Philippines last February 25 and started exhibiting flu-like symptoms such as fever and chills starting March 3.
Two days after, the patient tested positive for the deadly coronavirus.
Meanwhile, the fifth case is a 52-year-old Filipino who had no traveling history outside the country and is said to have regularly visited a Muslim prayer hall in Barangay Greenhills, San Juan City. The patient, with known hypertension and diabetes, started experiencing cough last February 25.
He was later on admitted to a Manila hospital last March 1 due to severe pneumonia.
As of posting, both patients are currently confined at the Research Institute of Tropical Medicine (RITM).
Prior to the announcement, three confirmed cases of COVID-19 all came from Wuhan City in China last January. Two of them have recovered and one died.
This is a developing story.
