By Analou De Vera Health officials on Wednesday said that a Chinese national who was being monitored for possible infection of the 2019 novel coronavirus (nCoV) had died due to pneumonia at the San Lazaro Hospital in Sta. Cruz, Manila. In a press briefing in Quezon City, San Lazaro Hospital Director Dr. Edmundo Lopez said that the 29-year-old man from Yunnan, China, who was admitted to the medical facility last Monday, January 27, was not yet confirmed to have contracted the 2019 nCoV. "The patient was seen with varying symptoms upon admission," said Lopez. The hospital official said that the man was found positive with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). "Meron syang mga cervical lesions, mga kulani, meron syang lung findings na rin, basically payat yung pasyente, and tinest sya for HIV---screening test positive ," said Lopez. Health Undersecretary Rolando Enrique Domingo said that even though the patient had died, they will still be conducting a test to confirm if he was afflicted with 2019 nCoV. "Itetest pa rin natin . So far, all the tests show another disease process. Kaya lang since meron syang travel from China and nagkaroon sya ng signs of fever--itetest pa rin natin just to make sure ," said Domingo. Persons under investigation (PUIs) Domingo said that all over the country, the number of PUIs for the new virus was at 23, including the Chinese man from Yunnan, China that had died. He said that a total of 27 suspected cases of NcoV were recorded since the start of their monitoring. "We have four who have been discharged and tested negative already," said Domingo. Testing kits for 2019 nCoV now available in PH The health official said that the laboratory materials needed for the testing kits for the 2019 nCoV have already arrived in the Philippines. "The reagents and the primers that were ordered by the RITM (Research Institute for Tropical Medicine) have arrived in the country and they are now setting up the (laboratory] for this," said Domingo. "Once the laboratory is set up within 48 hours--- we will be able to start running the test for the 2019 novel coronavirus in the Philippines. So subsequent tests will be done by the RITM," he added. Domingo said that they were hopeful that they will be able to conduct tests by Friday or Saturday. “It takes time to send our samples to Australia especially since these are possibly infectious substances. So we can probably reduce the process by two to three days," he said. Meanwhile, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said they will expand the "evaluation tool for suspected 2019 nCoV" as they will now also include travel history inquiry for the entire Hubei province. Previously, authorities were only checking if a passenger had a recent history of travel to Wuhan, China. "The revision in the evaluation tool includes this particular amendment: travel history to Hubei. We have to expand the sphere of the area from Wuhan," said Duque. Price control on face masks Duque also said that they were eyeing to impose price control on face masks after reports surfaced that its prices have already spiked due to the 2019 nCoV. "I have spoken to my director for the pharmaceutical product division and that is exactly the direction we will pursue," he said. (With reports from Richa Noriega) READ MORE: Three Chinese nationals with flu-like symptoms admitted to Manila hospital