More details have emerged regarding the mother and daughter who tested positive for the novel coronavirus — the first confirmed cases on Indonesian soil — as the government shed light on how and where they may have been infected.
At a press conference today, Health Minister Terawan Agus Putranto said the two patients are a 64-year-old woman and her 31-year-old daughter, both of whom live in the same house in Depok, which is situated on the outskirts of Jakarta.
The daughter is a dance instructor who went to an event at an undisclosed dance club in Jakarta on Feb. 14. There, she danced with her friend, a Japanese national who lives in Malaysia but was in town that day.
On Feb. 16, the daughter received outpatient care at an undisclosed hospital after complaining of severe coughs. The coughing persisted for more than a week, and on Feb. 28 she received a phone call from her Japanese friend that the latter had tested positive for the novel coronavirus and was being treated in Malaysia.
A release by the Malaysian government viewed by Coconuts showed that one COVID-19 patient, the 24th case in the country, is a 41-year-old Japanese woman who works in Malaysia but visited Indonesia in the first weeks of February, matching the timeline provided by Terawan. The Japanese woman, who was diagnosed with COVID-19 on Feb. 27, also had recent travel history to Japan.
On Feb. 29, the daughter alerted local health officials about her phone call. She, along with her mother, were taken to the Sulianti Saroso Infectious Disease Hospital in Sunter, North Jakarta where they were placed in quarantine. They both tested positive for the coronavirus today.
“We have isolated their home,” Terawan said today, as quoted by Detik.
“The [mother and daughter] are now in a special room [at Sulianti Saroso] and not in contact with anybody.”
Terawan added that the patients have been exhibiting some light coughing while in isolation.
The House of Parliament (DPR) has called on the government to tighten screenings at entry points throughout the country in light of Indonesia’s first confirmed infections.
“People say screenings at airports are not thorough. The tools used are manually operated. The government must be serious about this. This cannot be taken lightly,” DPR Commission IX member Saleh Partaonan Daulay told reporters today, as quoted by Kompas.
After weeks of claiming it was free of infections and shielded by prayer, Indonesia finally announced its first coronavirus cases today amid growing reports elsewhere involving patients who recently visited the archipelago. Several new cases reported in Malaysia, New Zealand and Singapore in the last four days have involved patients who recently traveled to Indonesia.
