PRAGUE, March 3 (Xinhua) -- The Czech Republic confirmed two more cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday morning after test results came back positive, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 5, the Ministry of Health said in a press release.
Currently 236 individuals have been tested. According to the ministry, both new patients came into close contact with the previously infected individuals who are now at Na Bulovce Hospital in Prague.
"These are the cases we expected. Hygienists are tracking people with whom they have been in contact and it is positive in the given situation that we are doing well and that we do not have other completely new cases in the Czech Republic," said Minister of Health Adam Vojtech.
One of the new patients is a woman now hospitalized at Masaryk Hospital in Usti nad Labem who returned from a ski holiday in the Veneto area in Italy - she stayed at the same hotel as a man who was confirmed positive on Sunday. The other is a woman from Ecuador who was traveling in the Czech Republic alongside her friend from the United States who was confirmed positive on Sunday - both are students in Milan, Italy.
The woman from Ecuador who tested positive proved that tests will need to be administered multiple times as her first test came back negative, the health minister added.
The tests of the other three patients confirmed on Sunday were re-confirmed via another test run in a Berlin laboratory. Samples from the two new patients were sent to Germany and results should be known within 24 hours.
