Local authorities in Pangasinan are keeping an eye on 170 persons who came in contact with a Filipino-Australian woman infected with the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) even as they tested negative for the illness, the director of the Department of Health (DOH) in the region said.

The 170 persons underwent a 14-day quarantine period and did not show any symptoms of the disease, said Valeriano Lopez, director for the DOH in the Ilocos region.

“We will still give it a try to monitor them to another week para sigurado,” said Lopez, who stressed that Pangasinan remained free from the disease.

The Filipino-Australian woman went to Pangasinan on February 22 to attend a class reunion in Dagupan City. She returned to Manila on February 23 and tested positive for COVID-19 after arriving in Australia last March 3.

The provincial government is looking for the other attendees of the reunion, said Governor Amado Espino III.

Two persons considered as patients under investigation (PUIs) for the disease, meanwhile, remained under quarantine in a hospital in Pangasinan, local health officials said. They include a 40-year-old overseas worker from Taiwan and a 5-year old from Spain.

Officials also considered the contacts of the 2 PUIs as persons under monitoring, said provincial health officer Anna de Guzman.

As of Monday, the Philippines has recorded 20 confirmed cases of COVID-19, which was caused by the virus called SARS-CoV2.

President Rodrigo Duterte has placed the country under a state of public health emergency to help contain the spread of the disease.

-- With a report from Joanna Tacason, ABS-CBN News