Health Ministry Disease Control and Prevention Directorate General secretary Achmad Yurianto said on Thursday that the patient could have been infected in Shanghai after he returned from Bali and reiterated that Bali had yet to detect any positive coronavirus cases. Therefore, Bali’s condition was “insufficient to infect people”.

Authorities in Huainan city in Anhui province, China, reported via Weibo on Feb. 5 the travel history of a Chinese national identified as Jin who had tested positive for the new coronavirus. The patient flew to Denpasar, Bali, on Jan. 22 on a Lion Air flight from Wuhan (JT2618) and left on a Garuda Indonesia flight from Denpasar to Shanghai (GA858) on Jan. 28. Chinese authorities advised passengers who had been on either flight to quarantine themselves and check for fever.

The Health Ministry, however, did not have any plans to advise the passengers similarly. "If we find this Jin, we will speak up. There’s no way we will tell people, ‘Hey, you are under observation because you might get infected by someone that I suspect [of being infected by the virus].’ It’s just a suspicion, and people would get panicked. One thing is for sure: on Jan. 22, [Lion Air] passengers were examined and received a health alert card [upon entering Indonesia],” Achmad said in a press briefing.

Achmad said his office had sent queries to both Lion Air and Garuda Indonesia and had found two passengers with the surname Jin, one an adult and the other a minor. Both flew on Lion Air JT2618 on Jan. 22 and Garuda Indonesia GA858 on Jan. 28.

“Our suspicion falls on two passengers on those flights: the young Jin and the older Jin. However, their seats are far apart so they’re probably not family,” he said.

The Health Ministry official went on to say that it was possible that Jin, who reportedly tested positive on Feb. 5, was not infected in Indonesia. Achmad said that the average incubation period of the novel coronavirus was 10 days and, therefore, by his own calculations, Jin should have been infected by the coronavirus on Jan. 27 or 28.

“Assuming that he was in Indonesia on Jan. 27, that was a time when we did not have any positive cases of the novel coronavirus. We tested specimens from two Indonesian citizens and 12 foreigners, and all of them tested negative,” Achmad said.

As the ministry had not recorded any significant increase in influenza-like illnesses during that period, Achmad said he believed that “Bali’s condition at that time was insufficient for him to be infected by the novel coronavirus.”

“We also know that he got on a taxi or other public transportation upon returning to Shanghai on Jan. 28. He might have been infected there.”

Achmad said the ministry would try to confirm Jin’s identity with relevant authorities, including the Huainan Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), through the Indonesian Embassy in Beijing and the Immigration Office. Once the ministry obtained Jin’s full identity, officials would determine which hotels he stayed at in Bali, Achmad said.

On Thursday, Garuda Indonesia grounded an aircraft used for flight GA858 following the reports.

Garuda director of operations Tumpal M. Hutapea said in press release that the airline would decontaminate the aircraft by spraying disinfectant “to ensure the cleanliness of the flight’s cabin and to sterilize it against bacteria”.

The procedure would also be carried out on the plane’s cargo area, he said.

Besides disinfecting the plane, Tumpal said Garuda would also change the aircraft’s High Efficiency Particulate Arresting (HEPA) air filter, a standard feature installed on every Garuda aircraft to kill viruses and bacteria within the cabin.

“Efforts being carried out are in line with [those used to prevent the] coronavirus epidemic in a number of countries. We are doing this as part of our commitment to strengthening anticipatory measures against the virus,” he said. “[The measures] are part of Garuda’s standard safety and sanitation procedures during an epidemic.”

Indonesian Ambassador to China Djauhari Oratmangun said on Thursday that authorities had gathered information on the patient from websites and Weibo.

“Since last night we have searched on the website and Weibo. This morning we're still communicating with the local administration [in China]. We will report the results to the Foreign Ministry. We will try to provide the fastest and best [information],” Djauhari told The Jakarta Post.

Bali Health Agency head Ketut Suarjaya said the agency had also begun to investigate Jin’s travel history in Bali.

“We are now conducting contact tracing to look for every location Jin visited in Bali,” Suarjaya said. (aly/ydp)

— Ni Komang Erviani contributed to this story from Denpasar.

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