MANILA — The University of Santo Tomas Hospital (USTH) has denied on Wednesday claims that a patient who has contracted the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) was admitted in their hospital.

“We would like to inform the public that there is no truth to the circulating news in social media and text messages of a novel coronavirus patient in University of Santo Tomas Hospital,” said the message of UST posted in Facebook.

The statement from the USTH Office of the Medical Director was posted by the Varsitarian, UST’s official student publication.

“USTH has  an established protocol for handling patients suspected with 2019-nCoV,” they said.

USTH is situated right at the heart of Manila with its frontage facing Espana, Manila; Dapitan Street on its back and is flanked by Lacson and P. Noval streets.

The Varsitarian also reminded all concerned  “to believe only official advisories from  designated  government authorities and the Department of Health regarding updates on the  status of 2019-nCoV in the country.”

“Get the accurate information and take care of your health,” the statement said.

“Stop spreading fake news. Be responsible. Be vigilant,” the statement said.

The number of confirmed cases in the new virus outbreak in China has reached 5,974 on Wednesday.

The figures has overtaken the number of people infected in the mainland by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)  epidemic in 2002-2003.

China’s national health commission has reported more than 1,400 confirmed new cases on Wednesday.

The death toll rose to 132.

There were 5,327 confirmed cases in mainland China during the SARS epidemic.

The outbreak has already killed more than 1000 people globally, including 349 in mainland China.

Local officials had earlier been more focused on projecting stability than responding to the outbreak when it began to spread earlier this month.

Japan and the US had already evacuated Wednesday their nationals from hard-hit Wuhan city in China which is considered as center-point of the outbreak. (Stacy Ang/IAMIGO/CPH)