MANILA - The East Avenue Medical Center (EAMC) in Quezon City belied circulating text and social media messages that it was under lockdown due to the new coronavirus (2019-nCoV).

"Please be advised that there is no truth to the rumor that EAMC is on lockdown due to a coronavirus suspect patient," the hospital said in a statement Tuesday night, adding they are "continuously providing healthcare services to the public."

Philippine health officials have adopted a stronger social media campaign to combat fake news on the fast-spreading novel coronavirus.

• Public urged to trust gov’t info as fake news spreads faster than Wuhan virus

A new Department of Health (DOH) website is dedicated solely to updates on the disease, formally known as the 2019 Novel Coronavirus, which has killed more than 130 people in China and sickened nearly 6,000 others as of Wednesday.

The DOH earlier said two Chinese travelers who had come together to the Philippines from Wuhan, China, the epicenter of the virus, were confirmed to be carriers.

On Sunday, the DOH bared that a 44-year-old Chinese man died of the acute respiratory disease in Manila on Saturday, the second confirmed case here. It was the first reported death from the virus outside China.

The entry of the virus into the Philippines has prompted the government to ban foreign travelers from all of mainland China and its territories. The public has also been scrambling for limited stocks of masks for their protection. -- With a report from Christian V. Esguerra, ABS-CBN News