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Indonesia monitors dozens in contact with first two COVID-19 cases in Greater Jakarta
Health Ministry monitors at least 48 contacts in relation to first two COVID-19 patients, who are Depok residents.
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Health Minister Terawan Agus Putranto speaks to the press at Sulianti Saroso Infection Hospital (RSPI Sulianti Suroso) isolation building in Jakarta, on Monday. (JP/Seto Wardhana)
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resident Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has announced that two Indonesians living in Greater Jakarta have tested positive for the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the first two confirmed cases of the disease in the country.
The Health Ministry has tracked the movements of the patients, both residents of Depok, West Java, and found at least 48 people who were in various level of contact with them. The Depok administration has also sent a circular to about 70 medical workers in a private hospital in Depok, who were in contact with one of the patients, to limit their movements and avoid crowded areas.
The news caused some people in Greater Jakarta to rush to buy surgical masks and hand sanitizer, currently in a short supply in both conventional shops or sold at inflated prices on online platforms.
Jokowi said the two infected people, a 64-year-old woman and her 31-year-old daughter, had been in contact with a Japanese citizen who tested positive on Feb. 27 in Malaysia after visiting Indonesia in early February.
“When we received information [about the Japanese citizen] a team in Indonesia immediately traced who the Japanese citizen had met with,” Jokowi told reporters at the State Palace on Monday. “We checked [the two people] and this morning I received a report from the health minister that they tested positive for the coronavirus.”
He said the government was well-prepared to handle COVID-19 cases.
Later, in another press conference, Health Minister Terawan Agus Putranto corrected the information, saying that the government had been notified about the possibility of the community transmission only after the younger patient had reported to a hospital in her home town of Depok, to inform staff that she had close contact with a COVID-19 patient who was being treated in Malaysia. Apparently, the Japanese woman had called her to inform her that she had been declared positive for the COVID-19.
Terawan also detailed the chronology of the younger coronavirus patient's movement before she and her mother, who was infected by her daughter, were admitted to the isolation ward at Sulianti Saroso Infectious Diseases Hospital (RSPI Sulianti Suroso) in Jakarta.
According to the minister's account, the daughter, who worked as a dance coach, had met with the Japanese woman, a friend, in a club in Jakarta, where the two danced together on Feb. 14.
“On Feb. 16, [the patient] coughed a lot, so she went to a hospital and returned home immediately afterward. She then asked on Feb. 26 to be hospitalized because her coughing hadn’t stopped. On Feb. 28, she received a call from her Japanese friend that [the latter] was being hospitalized in Malaysia after having tested positive for coronavirus,” Terawan said in a press conference at the RSPI on Monday afternoon.
The 41-year-old Japanese woman was Malaysia's 24th coronavirus patient, and had tested positive for coronavirus on Feb. 27 after traveling from Japan in January and to Indonesia in early February, according to the Malaysian Health Ministry on Friday.
Terawan said the two patients had been admitted to a private hospital where they were "treated as patients under supervision" for coronavirus concerns before the two were admitted to the RSPI and tested for COVID-19 on Sunday.
Depok Mayor Mohammad Idris confirmed separately that the two residents had previously been admitted to Mitra Keluarga Hospital on Feb. 27, where they were suspected of suffering from bronchitis. The two left the hospital on Feb. 29 as they were referred to the RSPI.
“On [Sunday], we immediately conducted a thorough check-up on the women [...] The daughter is now in a good condition, she only coughs occasionally,” Terawan said after visiting the patients, adding that none of the women had complained about any shortness of breath or fever – known symptoms of COVID-19 -- while being treated at the hospital.
The ministry’s director general for disease control and prevention, Anung Sugihantono, said in the press conference that the ministry had obtained the names of 48 people and had tried to contact them.
Anung did not specify the dates of the contacts but he said the ministry collected the data as part of the procedure after the government found positive cases of COVID-19. “The number so far is 48, and they had first-, second- and third-[degree] contact,” he said.
First-degree contact means people meet the patients every day, second-degree contact means they meet regularly and third-degree means the people have been in a room or area with the patient, he said.
The announcement on Monday added Indonesia to the list of coronavirus-hit countries after the archipelago had claimed zero confirmed cases for almost two months since the virus first emerged from the Chinese city of Wuhan in late December.
On Sunday, the Singaporean government announced that three of its newest cases, identified only as cases 101, 103 and 104 had a travel history to Batam.
The three cases bring the number of COVID-19 patients who tested positive after visiting Indonesia to seven.
The three people, two Singaporeans and a Myanmar citizen, visited Batam together from Feb. 21 to Feb. 23, and were part of a cluster of COVID-19 cases linked to Wizlearn Technologies Pte Ltd, a Singaporean software company, the Singaporean government reported.
In response, the Indonesian government is monitoring as many as 15 people in Batam, including a driver and a domestic worker, who were in close contact with the three patients while they were in the island.
