A man in Medan, North Sumatra, was suspected to have died on Monday from the viral respiratory illness, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), shortly after returning from a minor haj in Saudi Arabia.

The 54-year-old, known as KS, was being treated at the Adam Malik Medan Hospital when he died.

Hospital spokesperson Sairi Saragih said KS entered the hospital at 10:20 a.m. and was pronounced dead at 2:35 p.m. from what physicians concluded was an illness with symptoms similar to MERS.

'€œHe was suffering from a suspected case of MERS with symptoms such as breathing difficulty, fever and a cough,'€ Sairi said.

'€œHowever, the patient passed away before we were able to confirm that he was infected with the virus.'€

According to Sairi, KS had been receiving treatment at the nearby Permata Bunda Medan Hospital before he was transferred to Adam Malik.

According to Umar Zein, one of the physicians who first treated KS at Permata Bunda Medan Hospital, KS was admitted to the hospital on Saturday evening.

After a day of treatment, the physician suspected KS had been infected by the MERS virus.

'€œThis is the first suspected case of MERS in Indonesia. Because of that, we simply could not handle his case alone, which is why we referred him to the Adam Malik hospital to get as much assistance as possible,'€ Zein told The Jakarta Post.

However, the Health Ministry'€™s National Institute of Health Research and Development chief, Tjandra Yoga Aditama, said that the Medan case was '€œinconclusive'€ as he had yet to receive a laboratory sample.

'€œGiven the insufficient facilities at the hospital to analyze the sample, we required them to send it to us in order to confirm the virus,'€ he said.

According to the ministry, it would take two days for the lab in Jakarta to confirm the virus.

As of April 30, there have been 27 suspected cases of Indonesians contracting the MERS virus in Bali, Jakarta, Central Java, East Java, Riau Islands, Riau and South Sumatra. However, they have all been declared negative by the Health Ministry.

The MERS virus first emerged two years ago in Saudi Arabia and the country remains the epicenter of the virus.

It belongs to the coronavirus family along with the common cold and SARS, or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, which caused some 800 deaths globally in 2003.

The MERS virus has been found in camels, but officials don'€™t know how it is spreading.

The death toll from MERS has topped 115, according to Saudi health authorities on Monday.

The virus has been found in more than 13 countries, including Malaysia and the United States.

In anticipation of an outbreak, Coordinating People'€™s Welfare Minister Agung Laksono has called a joint-ministerial meeting to discuss what the government would do to handle the spread of the coronavirus.

'€œAlthough the World Health Organization [WHO] has not yet determined MERS is an epidemic, we will not sit on our hands,'€ said Agung.

'€œWe won'€™t risk an outbreak. We were successful in our previous handling of the bird flu outbreak, which had a fatality rate of 82 percent,'€ Agung said, adding that the fatality rate for MERS was at 35.92 percent.

 

 

Health Minister Nafsiah Mboi said the government would roll out several initiatives to handle the situation, such as setting up thermo-scanners in arrival sections of the country'€™s major entry points.

Other initiatives will include surveillance and prevention campaigns in the form of leaflets, banners and guidebooks that will be distributed to travel bureaus and regional health agencies.

'€œThe government has also prepared 100 MERS referral hospitals and has trained healthcare workers to handle the virus,'€ Nafsiah said.

'€œWe must not stir panic, but at the same time we should also protect Indonesians overseas, advising them to be cautious. A warning has been issued, but not to the extent of travel restrictions or bans.'€

Around 1.1 million documented Indonesians work in Saudi Arabia.

Additionally, at least 700,000 pilgrims are expected to travel to the Kingdom this year for the minor haj and 250,000 for the haj, spending at least US$200 million there, according to the Religious Affairs Ministry.

Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali said that there would be no visa restrictions for people over 65 years old wishing to go on the pilgrimage.

'€œWe will monitor the development of the disease before taking further action,'€ he said.

Several Muslim organizations have urged the government not to restrict the pilgrimage as they argued God would not target an outbreak on people undertaking the holy journey. (tjs/fss)