MANILA — The mayor of Lingayen, Pangasinan announced that he is negative for COVID-19 amid reports that a Filipino-Australian who visited their province tested positive for the disease.

"God is truly good to us. The RITM result just came in. I am negative for COVID-10. Praise God," Mayor Leopoldo Bataoil said in a Facebook post.

Bataoil said he volunteered for testing at the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine because of the reported COVID patient, who tested positive upon her return to Australia.

"Although no symptoms in 14 days, I went thru it to allay the fears of my people,” he said, adding that he had been "stressed so many nights" worrying about it.

Local authorities have said that they are monitoring 170 people who came in contact with the COVID-19 patient in Australia. The woman reportedly attended a February 22 class reunion in Dagupan City.

While there are 24 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the Philippines as of Monday evening, there are over 80 Filipinos overseas who were infected with the disease.

As of Tuesday morning, there are 110,000 cases of COVID-19 around the world, with 3,800 fatalities. However, half have reportedly recovered and most of the cases are mild, according to the World Health Organization.