The Department of Health on Friday said that the first detected case of monkeypox in Hong Kong that came from the Philippines is not a Filipino.
"One thing that we can assure our Filipinos is that he is not a Filipino. He passed through the Philippines before going home to Hong Kong," Health Officer-in-Charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said in a media briefing.
Vergeire issued the clarification after the government of Hong Kong announced that a 30-year-old man, a passenger of the Philippine Airline flight PR300 had tested positive for monkeypox.
The patient had a travel history in the United States, before staying in Canada and the Philippines, and finally Hong Kong, according to the health official.
Vergeire said the patient exhibited symptoms when he arrived in Hong Kong on 5 September.
She assured the public that the Health department had already identified the closed contacts of the patients.
"When we say close contacts, this is because of the proximity of that individual with the passengers; not specifically because there is evidence that they interacted with this individual," she said.
"We are closely monitoring them. Up until now, all of them are asymptomatic," she added.
