“We’ve gotten a report from our contact-tracing officials. He [Case 27] was in close contact with Case 20, who is in the same cluster as Case 1. We have solved the riddle,” the ministry’s disease control and prevention director general, Achmad Yurianto, said during a press briefing on Thursday.

Case 27 raised a concern on the first possible community transmission in the country, after the government announced on Tuesday that the citizen with no link to certain confirmed cases or travel history to affected countries tested positive for the virus. Yurianto earlier said the patient did not contract the virus abroad, and his exposure to the coronavirus was vague.

Yurianto, also the government’s spokesperson for all coronavirus-related matters, said the ministry was tracking and identifying all people who could have come in contact with Case 27.

Read also: COVID-19: Possible community spread sparks fears of wider contagion in Indonesia

He went on to say that the Health Ministry had been monitoring 12 new suspects, all of whom had been admitted to hospitals’ isolation wards and were waiting to be tested.

"We are monitoring 12 new suspects. I cannot reveal too much details but basically all of them had shown mild symptoms of COVID-19, such as a fever and cough,” Yurianto said.

“Some of them had been in close contact with the new confirmed cases, while others voluntarily went to health facilities because they had recent travel history to affected countries.”

As of Thursday, Indonesia announced 34 confirmed cases of COVID-19. Three of the cases have since recovered, while one, a British woman, died in Bali. Meanwhile, two patients admitted to the hospital for exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms died on Thursday. (nal)