MANILA – A ranking Department of Health (DOH) official has on Friday clarified that there are only 31 suspected cases of China’s 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) in the Philippines.

So said DOH spokesperson Eric Domingo as he corrected an earlier statement made by DOH-Epidemiology Bureau director Dr. Chito Avelino who issued a statement that the count of persons under investigation (PUIs) in PH is 56.

“As of 12 noon today we have two additional PUIs reported in the last 24 hours, which brings the total to 31,” Domingo said at a press briefing.

“We have now 31 persons under investigation, including one of them which turned out to be the positive and verified case,” he added.

One of the two new suspected cases is a Chinese while the other one is an American. They are currently admitted in separate hospitals, according to the DOH.

Meanwhile, the 56 that was mentioned earlier turned out to be “novel coronavirus-related health events.”

In the same press briefing, Avelino made the distinction between PUIs, and nCoV-related health events.

He said nCoV-related health events involve symptomatic patients with travel history from any region in China in the past two weeks.

Persons under investigation (PUIs) are those who had specifically traveled to Hubei province where Wuhan City—the center of the outbreak—is located.

Last Thursday, the DOH confirmed the first case of nCoV in the Philippines. (STACY  ANG/IAMIGO/CPH)