The Bali provincial government placed a village in Bangli regency on lockdown over the weekend, following results of rapid tests indicating that hundreds of residents may have been infected with the coronavirus.
Officials conducted a mass rapid test last Thursday, after eight residents in Serokadan hamlet, Abuan village tested positive for the virus earlier in the week. They reportedly came into contact with a migrant worker who had just returned from abroad.
More than 1,200 people went through the rapid tests, results of which came back “reactive” for 443 people. Officials have since followed up by taking swab samples for people with the reactive results for PCR testing and placing the Serokadan hamlet on lockdown, which has now been expanded for the entire Abuan village.
“The quarantine here is based on area and houses, so the people are only interacting within their residences and not going out to interact [with others] because the roads are being guarded by [law enforcement officers],” I Wayan Dirgayusa, spokesman for Bangli regency’s COVID-19 rapid task force, told Kumparan yesterday.
As of yesterday, Dirgayusa said the results for 276 people have come back negative.
In addition, more rapid tests have also been conducted over the weekend in order to reach more than 2,600 residents in Abuan village.
Bali province’s regional secretary, Dewa Made Indra, previously explained that rapid tests are regarded as an “early screening” for potential cases of COVID-19. He highlighted that confirmation will only be based on the results of PCR testing, following complaints from the public that rapid tests alone are not sufficient.
As people are not allowed to leave their homes, authorities in Bangli regency are running a public kitchen to facilitate the people’s daily needs.
“Everything is being taken care of by the government, [food] is cooked in the public kitchen and distributed to all residents from the morning, afternoon to the evening,” Dirgayusa explained.
Bali confirmed 25 additional COVID-19 cases yesterday, bringing the provincial tally to 262. Majority of the new cases are said to be local transmissions, which have occurred not only in Bangli, but also Karangasem and Buleleng regencies.
Cases of local transmissions have been traced back to recently returned migrant workers, thousands of whom have been returning to Bali in recent weeks and thousands more expected to follow suit. They are all subject to rapid tests upon arrival and are placed in quarantine facilities administered by their home cities or regencies.
Initially, however, those who tested negative during the rapid tests were expected to self-quarantine on their own and some have reportedly ignored the health protocols in place before the new strategy was adopted.
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