By Aaron Recuenco Six Filipino passengers of two domestic flights boarded by the two foreign tourists who tested positive for 2019-novel coronavirus (nCoV) have showed signs and symptoms of respiratory diseases, an official of a police unit tasked to conduct contact tracing disclosed on Thursday. Col. Rhoderick Armamento (PNA) Col. Rhoderick Armamento, deputy director for operations of the Philippine National Police (PNP) Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), said three of the passengers were on board the Jan. 21 Cebu-Dumaguete flight of Cebu Pacific, while the three others were on the Dumaguete-Manila flight of Philippine Air Lines (PAL). "Among the 61 passengers on board the Cebu Pacific flight 5J 241 from Cebu to Dumaguete City, the CIDG has already contacted 23 passengers, of three were confirmed to have manifested signs and symptoms of the respiratory infection," Armamento said. He said one of the three passengers has already entered the local hospital for quarantine while the other two opted to stay at home. Armamento said he has advised the Department of Health (DOH) about the other two passengers. "For the 132 passengers of PAL 2452 from Dumaguete City to Manila, 25 passengers were already contacted, three of are now on quarantine in different hospitals," he added. The CIDG has been tapped to conduct contact tracing of all the passengers of two domestic flights boarded by two Chinese tourists who tested positive for nCoV. One of them later died. The PNP was given 48 hours starting Wednesday to trace all the passengers. "We are doing the contact tracing through phone calls in order to protect our personnel. We also tapped the Anti-Cybercrime Group (ACG) to contact them through e-mail or social media accounts," Armamento said. Among those who were contacted were seven foreigners on board the two domestic flights. But police said they are all in good health condition. The official said the DOH will take care of contacting all the passengers of the Hong Kong to Cebu flight boarded by the two Chinese. Hitches Armamento said they encountered some problems in contacting all the passengers, the reason why only 48 were contacted on Wednesday. He said some passengers would not answer their phones while the phone numbers of some others appeared to be non-existent. "That's why during our meeting, we asked the airline companies to accomplish the vital information needed before the passengers are allowed entry to the country," Armamento said. It was for those whom they were not able to contact that they sought help from the ACG. Advice All passengers who have been contacted by the CIDG were advised to avoid unnecessary contact with people and stay at home as much as possible, Armamento said. "They were also asked to monitor themselves for fever, colds, and cough, observe proper hygiene, to wear masks, and immediately contact the Department of Health if they experience any signs and symptoms of respiratory infection."