BREAKING: DOH says number of coronavirus case now 33

Facade of the DOH main office in Manila. Photo by Consuelo Marquez / INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines — The 2019 coronavirus disease has infected nine more people in the Philippines, bringing the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases to 33, the Department of Health (DOH) said Tuesday.

Health Assistant Secretary Maria Rosario Vergeire clarified in a press briefing that the initial count of 11 refers to the number of patients’ specimens and that after further investigation, the new COVID-19 cases were actually nine, therefore raising the latest count to 33 and not 35 as earlier announced.

“The number that initially reported to us was only test samples, after further validation, there are only nine [new cases],” Vergeire said.

“Officially saying, we have new nine cases hindi po labing-isa [not 11],” she added.

The specimens were repeat tests of samples of patient number 7 (PH7), which involved a 38-year-old Taiwanese male and patient number 8 (PH8), which involved a 32-year-old Filipino male who flew from Japan within the past 14 days.

DOH also announced the initial information of nine of the new cases reported Tuesday and four patients disclosed by President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday night.

The DOH’s Facebook post declaring that there are 11 new cases had already been deleted.

Based on DOH’s tally, the initial information of the 13 cases are as follows:

PH21 is a 58-year-old Filipino female, who is currently admitted to Dr. Jose N. Rodriguez Memorial Hospital and Sanitarium in Caloocan City. She experienced coughs, colds and dysphagia or difficulty in swallowing.

PH22 is a 51-year-old Filipino female, who experienced fever, cough, and shortness of breath. She was admitted to Cardinal Santos Medical Center in San Juan City.

PH23 is a 30-year-old Filipino female, who is experiencing cough, sore throat and headache. She is admitted to San Lazaro Hospital in Manila.

Patients 21 to 23 have no history of travel to virus-hit countries, according to DOH.

PH24 is a 52-year-old Filipino male who flew from Switzerland is admitted to St. Luke’s Medical Center in Quezon City.

PH25 is a 31-year-old Filipino male and 34-year-old Filipino male who are both asymptomatic. PH25 and PH 26 are both staying at the New Clark City in Capas, Tarlac province and are Filipinos who are evacuated from the virus-hit cruise ship MV Diamond Princess quarantined in Japan.

PH27 is a 42-year-old Filipino female who experienced cough before Feb. 19 and tested positive for the disease on Tuesday.

PH28 is a 69-year-old Filipino male, who has a history of exposure from a known COVID-19 case, experienced fever, and cough.

PH29 is an 82-year-old Filipino female, who has a history of exposure from a patient positive for the disease and is now asymptomatic.

PH30 is a 96-year-old Filipino female, who has a history of exposure from a patient positive for the disease, is now asymptomatic.

PH31 is a 28-year-old Filipino female while PH32 is a 64-year-old Filipino male. Both have no known travel history.

PH33 is a 60-year-old Filipino male who experienced fever, cough, and dizziness.

Patients 27 to 33 are staying at the Medical City in Ortigas, Pasig.

Vergeire said the initial information of the patients may still be updated for further confirmation.

On Monday night, Duterte revealed there were already 24 cases of coronavirus disease in the country. Of these, four are said to be from West Crame in San Juan City; Sta. Maria, Bulacan; and Project 6, Quezon City.

The World Health Organization likewise earlier confirmed the Philippines’ first local transmission via the 62-year-old man from Cainta, Rizal, who has since been named PH 5 by DOH. Subsequently, the man’s wife contracted COVID-19 and was tagged as PH 6.

This prompted DOH to declare a Code Red, alerting alerts national, local governments, and health care providers to prepare for the possible increase in suspected and confirmed COVID-19 cases.

Duterte also proclaimed a state of public health emergency following the risk of COVID-19’s rapid transmission.

COVID-19 is 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.

Edited by JPV