The Health Ministry this afternoon announced that two people have tested positive for the coronavirus, bringing the total official number of infected in the country to four.
In a press conference today, Achmad Yurianto, the spokesperson for COVID-19-related matters in Indonesia, said ministry officials had been monitoring 80 people who had come into close contact with a mother and daughter who were the first to be diagnosed with COVID-19 earlier this week.
From there, officials narrowed down their focus to seven people who were determined to have come within touching distance of the mother and daughter recently. Of those seven, two have tested positive for the coronavirus.
“The seven showed symptoms of flu, though they were all mild, not severe … From the seven we found two who were confirmed positive, who we are now calling Case 3 and Case 4,” Achmad said.
After weeks of claiming it was free of infections and shielded by prayer, Indonesia finally announced its first coronavirus cases on March 2 amid growing reports elsewhere involving patients who recently visited the archipelago.
The first people to be diagnosed with COVID-19 in Indonesia — a 64-year-old woman and her 31-year-old daughter — are making inroads towards recovery and may even soon be discharged, officials say.
We will update this developing story as more information becomes available.
