MANILA - San Juan City Mayor Francis Zamora said Friday local authorities are prepared for response to the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) after the Philippines confirmed 2 more patients, one of whom regularly visited a Muslim prayer hall in the area.

"We've already activated our crisis management team, I met them earlier. The San Juan Medical Center is ready and our San Juan City health department is ready," Zamora told ANC.

Zamora said his office would be continuously coordinating with Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, who earlier confirmed the two new cases of COVID-19 in the country.

• Philippines' new coronavirus cases now at 5, including potential local transmission

"Right now, we are monitoring the situation and once we have verified information, I'll be releasing some statements," the mayor said.

Duque earlier said one of the two new COVID-19 cases in the country frequented a Muslim prayer hall in Barangay Greenhills.

The 62-year-old patient, the country's 5th coronavirus patient, had coughs last Feb. 25, before being admitted at a Manila hospital on March 1 with severe pneumonia. He then tested positive for COVID-19 on March 5, said Duque.

The 4th COVID-19 patient, meanwhile, is a 48-year-old Filipino man who traveled to Japan, one of the Asian countries severely hit by the virus.