The Department of Health (DOH) confirmed 4th and 5th coronavirus cases in the Philippines (PH) during a press conference, Friday afternoon.
The patients were both Filipinos, which brought total confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country to 5.
DOH Secretary Francisco Duque III said the 4th positive case in the Philippines is a 48-year-old male Filipino who visited Japan and returned to Manila on February 25.
The patient started experiencing coronavirus infection symptoms such as chills and fever on March 3 but is currently in a “stable” condition.
The 5th new confirmed case is a 62-year-old Filipino male with known pre-existing conditions, namely diabetes mellitus, and hypertension. The patient started experiencing cough with phlegm on February 25.
The man went to a hospital in Metro Manila for medical consultation on March 1 and was admitted due to severe pneumonia. He lived in San Juan City, Metro Manila, and frequented a Muslim prayer hall in the area.
Also read: Number of suspected PH coronavirus cases per region
DOH confirms 4th,5th coronavirus cases in PH
Both cases are admitted at the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM).
This patient from San Juan has no known travel history, but Duque said it cannot be treated as a confirmed local transmission of COVID-19 – the disease caused by 2019-nCoV – for now.
“There is no transmission to speak of as of [now]. There’s only one. That’s why we’re doing contact tracing…But now it’s premature to say that there’s local transmission,” Duque said.
The DOH and concerned local government units are now tracing all the individuals the two additional COVID-19 cases came in contact with.
“These recent developments are significant, but we are prepared to respond to its potential consequences. Our priority is to protect our health workers and the most vulnerable populations,” Duque said.
“We can still contain the spread of the virus in the country, which is why we are encouraging the public to practice proper handwashing, social distancing, and cough etiquette. We call on the public to be vigilant and continue doing their part in containing the disease,” he added.