MANILA, Philippines — Cavite Gov. Jonvic Remulla on Tuesday bared “real time status” of the novel coronavirus in his province by saying that its “first positive case is a man from Imus.”
In a Facebook post, Remulla said the individual “was a returning seaman who passed through Narita Airport in Japan.”
“He is currently confined at the RITM [Research Institute of Tropical Medicine],” he also said.
Remulla likewise mentioned “the second case of a PUI (person under investigation)”, describing the individual as a woman confined in a private hospital in Imus.”
“She had just arrived from South Korea. Her swab was submitted to the RITM as of 6pm last night. Status will be released hopefully later this afternoon,” he added.
At this point, the Cavite governor appealed to his local leaders and constituents “to be transparent with the truth.”
“Cloaking information is a greater disservice to the people. The people have the right to be informed.”
“Please follow the guidelines set by the DOH,” he also said. “We will release information as we verify it.”
As of this posting, INQUIRER.net is awaiting DOH’s comment on Remulla’s report, to know whether the seaman is an additional case or still part of the 24 COVID-19 cases already confirmed by the health agency and President Rodrigo Duterte.
To date, the Philippines has 24 confirmed cases of COVID-19, a respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus that first emerged in China’s city of Wuhan in Hubei province in late 2019.
The International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses named the novel coronavirus as SARS-CoV-2.
Coronavirus is a family of viruses, which surfaces have a crown-like appearance. The viruses are named for the spikes on their surfaces.