MANILA, Philippines — The four cases of the coronavirus disease announced over the weekend are confined in different private hospitals in Metro Manila, the Department of Health said Monday.
Earlier Monday, the local governments of Quezon City and Marikina announced that two patients in their cities had tested positive for the virus. These two are among the COVID-19 cases already confirmed and previously announced by the Department of Health.
In an interview on CNN Philippines, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said the patient from Quezon City, a 57-year-old male, was brought to St. Luke’s Medical Center in Quezon City. He has no travel history outside the country.
An 86-year-old American has been confined in The Medical City in Ortigas, Pasig. He has a travel history to South Korea.
LIST: Confirmed COVID-19 cases in the Philippines
Meanwhile, the 38-year-old Taiwanese male who did not recently travel outside the country is admitted at Makati Medical Center. The 32-year-old Filipino man who returned from a trip to Japan is in St. Luke’s Medical Center in Taguig.
“All these hospitals have the capability to handle these cases,” Duque said in Filipino.
Early in February, Mayor Joy Belmonte inspected the Quezon City Medical Center, Rosario Maclang Bautista General Hospital and the Novaliches District Hospital to check their readiness to respond to COVID-19 cases.
The hospitals had been provided safety equipment and isolation tents, her office said on February 4.
City health officials have also met with private hospitals to discuss safety protocols for handling potential cases.
In a video posted by The STAR's Walter Bollozos, Marikina Mayor Marcy Teodoro said he immediately ordered contact tracing and containment measures. He added that the city may implement quarantine within Monday morning.
Classes in the city have been suspended until Wednesday. But Teodoro said he may be constrained to extend the suspension of classes.
The total number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the Philippines stood at 10 Monday.
Out of the confirmed cases in the country, seven are confined, while two have recovered. The country has recorded one fatality—a tourist who had arrived in the Philippines from Wuhan, the city in China that is the epicenter of the outbreak.
Globally, the number of the confirmed novel coronavirus cases is at 109,032, including 3,792 deaths, across 99 countries and territories.