MANILA, Philippines (Updated 1:21 p.m.) — The Department of Health on Friday afternoon said the number of persons under observation for possible novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) infection has increased to 31.
The figure is lower than an initial report of 56 but higher than the 29 reported on Thursday.
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"As of 12 noon today, we have two additional persons under investigation reported in the last 24 hours, which brings the total to 31," Health Undersecretary Eric Domingo said in a press briefing Friday afternoon.
He initially said the number was unchanged.
Early Friday, DOH epidemiology bureau head Ferchito Avelino said in an interview on CNN Philippines that the number of patients under investigation had climbed to 56.
The health agency reported Thursday the first confirmed case of novel coronavirus in the Philippines—a 38-year-old woman who arrived from Wuhan. She flew to Cebu and Dumaguete before she sought medical help.
She is currently isolated at San Lazaro Hospital, a referral facility for infectious and communicable diseases.
The World Health Organization declared Friday a global emergency over the spreading of the SARS-like illness that has killed 213 in China and infected nearly 10,000.
The disease emerged in a market in central Chinese city of Wuhan that sold wild animals and spread to more than 15 countries by a Lunar New Year holiday season in which hundreds of millions of Chinese travel at home and abroad.
The public is advised to practice regular hand washing, proper coughing and sneezing etiquette and thoroughly cooking meat and eggs to prevent the spread of infection.