Health Undersecretary Eric Domingo said the 441 contacts of the first and second case of 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) acute respiratory disease has been identified by the operatives from the DOH- Epidemiology Bureau and the PNP.

Of this number, he said 379 were passengers and crew from flights taken by the confirmed cases, while 62 contacts were from hotels/resorts, hospitals, public vehicles, and other places visited by the confirmed cases.

The confirmed nCoV cases, the 38-year old Chinese woman and her boyfriend, the 44-year old Chineae man, who both came from Wuhan, China, epicenter of the novel virus, travelled to the Philippines and went to Cebu and Dumaguete cities.

They boarded the PAL and Cebu Pacific flights.

Accirding go Domingo. of the contacts reached, 203 were placed on home quarantine, while the 32 contacts exhibiting symptoms were categorized as PUIs.

He said the remaining 206 have yet to be interviewed due to erroneous contact information but the EB is already coordinating with the PNP and local authorities to facilitate contact assessments and interviews.

Upon the release of the laboratory result of the 3rd confirmed case, EB has initiated contact tracing.

To date, 106 contacts were traced, this includes all 90 co-passengers and 16 individuals from hotels and hospitals in contact with the 3rd confirmed case. Currently, 22 contacts have been interviewed and were placed on home quarantine, while 4 symptomatic contacts have been categorized as PUIs./ Stacy Ang