Number of persons under probe for possible nCoV infection climbs to 14

The number of persons under investigation (PUI) for possible infection of novel coronavirus (nCoV) in the country has climbed to 14, according to Jonathan Andal's report on Unang Balita on Tuesday.

This, as health authorities continue to monitor more patients across the country who show symptoms related to the infection, aside from the first suspected cases in Kalibo, Aklan involving three Chinese children.

Five PUIs are being monitored in Muntinlupa, Pasay, and Manila including the new three suspected patients admitted at San Lazaro Hospital.

El Nido in Palawan, Mambajao in Camiguin, and Tacloban City in Leyte also have a PUI each, while three three PUIs are reported in Cebu City although one of them has already been discharged.

"There shouldn't be any cause for alarm. Just because we flash the areas where the PUIs come from, doesn't mean those areas are infected with novel coronavirus because there is none," Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said in the report.

"We keep harping the fact that there's none. It's still zero [nCoV cases in the Philippines] as of today," he stressed.

The Asian Hospital and Medical Center, which has a PUI admitted in its facility, denied that it has a confirmed case of nCoV infection.

The Medical City also denied it has a confirmed case of nCoV infection, as well as the Manila Health Department in connection with the Metropolitan Hospital.

Meanwhile, the Adventist Medical Center Manila said there is no PUI confined in its facility.

The death toll due to the infection has reached 106, the Chinese government said. Nearly 1,300 new cases have been reported, while the total number of cases surpassed 4,000 nationwide.

Originating from Wuhan, China, the new coronavirus has been infecting people in the United States, Taiwan, Thailand, Japan, South Korea, and Macau. —Joviland Rita/KBK, GMA News