The city of Mati in Davao Oriental confirmed its first two cases of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), its mayor said Friday.

In a statement, Mayor Michelle Rabat said the two patients are now at Davao Regional Medical Center in Tagum City and are in stable condition.

"Health authorities also quarantined the rest of the members of the family of the two patients and started contact tracing from the time they arrived from Metro Manila until the time their quarantine started," she said.

The two patients returned to Davao from Manila on board a PAL flight and traveled back to their city the same day last March 7.

"On March 10, one of the patients was not feeling well and had a checkup at a hospital in Davao City on March 14," she said.

One of the patients contacted their city health officer, Dr. Ben Hur Catbagan, and they were advised to go home and undergo self-quarantine.

The two were checked by health officials upon their arrival in Mati and were isolated from the rest of the members of the household and quarantined.

Health officials took swab samples for tests on March 18. They wre the first batch of persons under investigation (PUI) whose samples were tested at the subnational laboratory at Southern Philippines Medical Center.

The results were submitted to the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine for confirmation tests.

As of Friday, Mati City has 2 cases of COVID-19 with 10 PUIs and 208 persons under monitoring.