MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health said Friday said it is in the process of gathering information on the two foreign nationals who tested positive for coronavirus disease after returning to their countries from the Philippines.
The Taiwan Centers for Disease Control said a man who traveled to the Philippines from February 28 to March 3 was confirmed to have contracted the disease. The Taiwan CDC also said he had a diarrhea—a less commonly reported symptom of the illness—when he was in the Philippines.
The federal government of New South Wales in Australia, meanwhile, said that a “female who is believed to have returned from the Philippines” is among the country’s new confirmed cases of COVID-19.
DOH Assistant Secretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said that the department is seeking more information about the two foreigners.
“As far as we know, we still do not have accurate and complete information so we still cannot tell you now that this information is accurate, that foreign nationals were able to get this infection in the Philippines,” Vergeire said in an interview on CNN Philippines Friday.
She added: “For now, as soon as we got the information yesterday we started coordinating with our international partners and the ministries of health of these specific nations so we can get more information.”
The Health official said the agency will start tracking down the people who might have come in contact with the Taiwanese and Australian nationals while they were in the Philippines.
“For now, we have scant information but we have started with what we have for now to do tracing and investigation,” she said.
These two cases cast doubt on the way Philippine authorities handle the spread of the disease.
The World Health Organization earlier said that nine countries, including the Philippines, show that the spread of the new coronavirus can be contained.
The Philippines has three confirmed cases—including one fatality. The other two have fully recovered.
The DOH said there are 37 patients under investigation as of Thursday.
The virus has spread to some 80 countries and territories and infected more 95,000 people after first emerging in China late last year. The global death toll from the epidemic stood at 3,200.