MANILA — Most of the 26 South Koreans who arrived last week in Cebu in the central Philippines ahead of a travel ban Manila imposed on one of the East Asian country's provinces have been traced and did not exhibit signs and symptoms of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a health official said Monday.

Health Assistant Secretary Maria Rosario Vergeire told a news briefing that only one of the 26 South Koreans who all came from virus-stricken Daegu City is unaccounted for, but authorities hope to get updates on the traveler's whereabouts within the day or by Tuesday.

She said that while the 26 are not considered "patients under investigation" since they do not show symptoms of COVID-19, the government wanted to monitor them “because they are coming from a place which is of high risk.”

The South Koreans arrived Cebu on Feb. 25, a day before the country imposed a travel ban on Daegu City and the rest of North Gyeongsang province amid the spike of COVID-19 cases there.

South Korea has so far reported more than 3,000 cases of COVID-19, many of them in North Gyeongsang where a religious sect has been identified as a hotbed for the disease. It is the highest outside of China, where the new coronavirus originated.

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Vergeire said 15 of the South Korean group "flew back" home yesterday, and another two will follow today.

Another one was traced to be in Angeles City in Pampanga province, north of the capital Manila.

Seven others "are in different hotels in Cebu," undergoing quarantine. Vergeire said they want to stay in the country after the quarantine period.

“Yung sa Cebu, walang nag-exhibit na signs and symptoms (of COVID-19),” Vergeire said.

(None of those travelers in Cebu exhibited signs and symptoms.)

The Philippines had three cases of COVID-19 so far. While one died, the other two recovered and have gone back to China. There is still no case of local transmission, unlike in other countries like South Korea.

More than 87,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been reported in nearly 60 countries, with almost 3,000 people dying from the disease. A vast majority of the cases and fatalities are in China. Some 80 Filipinos overseas are among those to have contracted the disease.