Indonesia announced 13 new confirmed COVID-19 cases on Monday evening, bringing the official total number of people infected in the country to 19.
Achmad Yurianto, a secretary at the Health Ministry’s Disease Control and Prevention Directorate General who was recently appointed spokesperson for COVID-19-related matters in Indonesia, said seven of the patients were likely infected by the coronavirus abroad before returning home recently. Two of the patients are foreign nationals, though their nationalities were not disclosed.
Two of the new cases, identified as Case 7 and Case 8, are a married couple in their 50s.
Case 10, 11, 12 and 13 likely contracted the virus from coming into contact with Indonesia’s first confirmed case, a 31-year-old dance instructor who tested positive after coming into contact with a Japanese woman who visited Jakarta in early February and later testing positive in Malaysia.
Achmad said some of the patients are being treated in Jakarta while some others are being treated outside the capital, without giving specific details. The patients’ privacy seems to be under greater protection amid reports that the country’s first two confirmed cases were reportedly stressed after their personal details leaked to the public.
The 13 new cases represented the biggest one-day spike of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Indonesia.
“The president has called for the people to remain calm because this disease’s clinical tendencies are not like what we imagined in Wuhan,” Achmad said, referring to the Chinese city at the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak, during a press conference yesterday.
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