MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH) yesterday confirmed that three foreigners who recently visited the Philippines have tested positive for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in their countries.

At a press conference, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said the first case is a 38-year-old Taiwanese man who was in the Philippines from Feb. 28 to March 3.

The patient developed abdominal discomfort and diarrhea on March 2, then experienced sore throat, fever and malaise on March 3.

Back in Taiwan, the patient consulted at an outpatient clinic on March 4 and was confirmed positive for COVID-19 on March 5, Duque said.

“The onset of symptoms on March 2 points to possible infection before the patient traveled to the Philippines,” he noted.

This was backed by World Health Organization (WHO) country representative Rabindra Abeyasinghe, who maintained “it is very likely that this person got infected before or during (his) travel to the Philippines.

“We recognized that the incubation phase of the disease is known to be two to 14 days but in the majority of the cases, it’s six to seven days... So the timeline points to possible earlier infection,” he added.

Aside from this, Abeyasinghe claimed the Taiwanese patient also spent only four days in the Philippines and he became symptomatic on the fourth day.

The second case is a 44-year-old Japanese man who visited the Philippines from Feb. 21 to 28.

Duque said before coming to the country, the patient had traveled to Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand.

“He stayed in three different hotels during his visit to Metro Manila. He flew to Thailand last Feb. 28 and experienced cough, shortness of breath and fever which began on Feb. 29,” he added.

The patient had a checkup at a clinic in Cambodia on March 3 and was referred to a hospital but no tests were done.

The patient flew back to Japan last March 4 and was tested positive for COVID-19. He was admitted and is still in isolation at Aichi Prefecture Hospital.

“The extensive travel history of the patient suggests possible contraction of the disease in another country,” he maintained.

The third patient, Duque said, is a woman living in Sydney, Australia.

The patient had attended a wedding in Manila mid-February then visited Pangasinan.

The patient left the country for Sydney on March 2 and was confirmed with COVID-19 by the New South Wales Government on March 3.

Contact tracing

According to DOH Assistant Secretary Ma. Rosario Vergeire, five teams are to trace the possible contacts of the three foreign nationals and two Filipinos who also contracted the virus.

“We’re looking at five separate individuals that we are considering for contact tracing. We have mobilized our epidemiology and surveillance unit in our Center for Health Development in Metro Manila to do this,” she said.

Dr. Anna Ma. Teresa de Guzman, provincial health officer of Pangasinan, said she has not yet received any instruction from Duque for contact tracing on a female patient who visited the province for a reunion.

De Guzman told The STAR yesterday that they are waiting for instruction from the DOH to track down the people that made contact with the patient who lives in Sydney.

She said that based on Duque’s press statement, the DOH is still verifying information with the International Health Regulation of Australia.

“Thinking that if that patient from Sydney, Australia had an exposure here in Pangasinan and it is now March 6, by this time, we should already have picked up (other patients with COVID symptoms),” De Guzman said.

“So far, no one is going to our hospitals (for symptoms of COVID-19). Granting that she attended a reunion in Pangasinan and left for Australia on March 2, so our assumption is, she did not stay long in this province,” she said.

“Granting probably she left for Manila Feb. 27 or 28 then I’d count, it’s already nine days already but no one is exposed yet,” she added.