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COVID-19: Indonesia finally begins contact tracing of patients who tested positive in Singapore
At least eight people with COVID-19 in Singapore are believed to have contracted the virus in Indonesia, two of whom are Singaporean citizens with a history of travel to the archipelago.
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Visitors wait to board a tour boat at Marina Bay in Singapore on Feb. 18. - Singapore unveiled $4.6 billion in financial packages on Feb. 18 to deal with the impact of the deadly COVID-19 novel coronavirus outbreak, which has battered the city-state's economy and sparked fears of a recession. (Photo by Roslan RAHMAN / AFP) (AFP/ Roslan RAHMAN )
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n Indonesian Health Ministry official confirmed that the ministry had received information from Singaporean authorities regarding Indonesian citizens being treated for COVID-19 in the city-state, saying that authorities at home had started tracing the patients’ close contacts.
“[We] have received the information from the Foreign Ministry,” the Health Ministry’s disease control and prevention director general, Achmad Yurianto, said on Saturday. “We have started tracing.”
However, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Sunday that the standard protocol implemented worldwide was that information sharing was supposed to be conducted through inter-ministerial communication – by the ministries in charge of public health in each country or between officials in charge for handling such a communicable disease.
“That is the information being shared by the Health Ministry with the Foreign Ministry,” said the ministry's spokesman, Teuku Faizasyah.
The Indonesian government claimed that Singapore had insisted on withholding the personal information of several Indonesian citizens believed to have shown COVID-19 symptoms in Jakarta and tested positive for the lethal virus in the city-state.
At least eight people with COVID-19 in Singapore are believed to have contracted the virus in Indonesia, two of whom are Singaporean citizens with a history of travel to the archipelago.
Yurianto claimed the Health Ministry had asked for the identities of the Indonesian citizens from Singapore but authorities in the country rejected the request, saying that such behavior had hindered the Indonesian government from conducting tracing at home.
In a separate statement Friday, a spokesperson for the Singaporean Health Ministry denied the allegation, saying that “Singapore and Indonesia are state parties to the World Health Organization International Health Regulations (IHR)”, and that “Singapore has promptly shared information with Indonesia through the official IHR channel on all the confirmed COVID-19 cases involving Indonesians, to facilitate contact tracing in Indonesia”.
“The Indonesian IHR national focal point (NFP), who is an official from the Indonesian Health Ministry, has acknowledged receipt of all correspondences on these cases sent by Singapore’s IHR NFP,” the spokesperson added.
As of Sunday, Indonesia has recorded 96 confirmed cases, resulting in five deaths. Meanwhile, Singapore has recorded 212 cases and zero deaths.
The WHO stated in its report on Saturday that the pandemic had reached 136 countries, with 13 new countries having reported their first cases. At least 5,393 people have died from the lethal virus but more than 73,900 have recovered worldwide. (asp)
