he North Sulawesi Health Agency has announced that a 2-year-old Chinese toddler under observation in an isolation room for symptoms of the novel coronavirus at Manado’s Prof. Kandou General Hospital tested negative.
Agency head Debie KR Kalalo said the office had received the result of the laboratory sample on the toddler, identified only as GY, from the Health Ministry’s research and development center in Jakarta.
“The result is negative [for coronavirus],” Debie said on Saturday.
She went on to say that the baby’s parents, identified only by their initials WZ and LD, also tested negative for the coronavirus.
Read also: Chinese toddler’s condition improves after suspected Wuhan coronavirus infection in Manado
The agency, however, was still waiting for the test result of a second sample from the patient before making any decision on discharging him from the hospital.
“The first sample came back negative, but we still cannot discharge the baby. We are still closely observing the baby in the isolation room until we received the result of the second sample,” Prof. Kandou General Hospital medical services division head Hanry Takasenseran said.
The family has been in Manado since Jan. 21. The had been experiencing fever and a cough for the past nine days.
While the number of confirmed cases of the outbreak has been increasing around the globe, Indonesia has yet to have any confirmed case. However, an Indonesian domestic worker in Singapore tested positive for the virus on Tuesday. (hol)
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