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Indonesian reporter and family in self-imposed quarantine upon return from China
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Officials of the Tulungagung Health Agency in East Java check on Antara journalist Irfan Ilmie and his family on Thursday. The family is in self-imposed quarantine after returning from Beijing despite testing negative for 2019-nCoV. (JP/Asip Hasani)
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n Indonesian reporter based in Beijing has put himself and his family in quarantine at his home in Tulungagung, East Java, upon their return from China.
Irfan Ilmie, who works for state-owned news agency Antara, plans to remain in quarantine with his family for 14 days since Tuesday, despite having tested negative for the novel coronavirus.
"We will use facemasks every day, measure our body temperature and refrain from interacting with neighbors," he said at his house recently.
Irfan went on to say that the self-imposed quarantine was his own initiative to make sure that he and his family members, who had lived with him in Beijing, were not infected with the 2019-nCoV virus.
Irfan has worked as Antara’s Beijing bureau chief for three years. He lives there with his wife and two daughters – the elder of which is a student at Beijing Normal University.
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He said he had been inspired by United States Army soldiers who went through the same procedure at their respective homes after being evacuated from China.
Upon returning from the Chinese capital, Irfan claimed they were in good health with no symptoms of infection. Beijing is located around 1,200 kilometers from the epicenter of the outbreak, Wuhan in Hubei province.
The journalist said his decision to leave Beijing was in line with the government’s appeal for Indonesian citizens to leave China. “My office also recommended that we temporarily leave the country.”
Officials from the Tulungagung Health Agency have visited the house to conduct medical checkups of Irfan and his family members.
An official of the agency, Didik Eka, expressed appreciation for Irfan’s family’s willingness to go through self-imposed quarantine. (kuk)
