Coronavirus: Indonesia scrambles to find first patients' close contacts as Widodo urges calm

• Authorities are still tracking about 50 members of a dance community that was frequented by one of the patients, says country’s disease prevention head
• News of Indonesia’s first cases sent Jakarta residents into a buying frenzy, with hand sanitisers, instant noodles and water flying off the shelves

Indonesian authorities have swung into action to track down dozens of close contacts of the country’s first two coronavirus patients, a mother and daughter from a city south of Jakarta who contracted the disease from a Japanese citizen visiting from Malaysia.

It comes as Jakarta’s governor, Anies Baswedan, said he would stop issuing permits for mass gatherings in the city, fuelling another rush of panic buying in the Indonesian capital.

Indonesia has for weeks denied it had any virus cases, but critics suggested it was because testing rates were extremely low.

Health Minister Terawan Agus Putranto on Monday told media that one of the two Indonesians who tested positive, a 31-year-old woman who works as a dance coach, had met a Japanese woman at a club in Jakarta on February 14. The Japanese woman, 41, was later confirmed to have the coronavirus after she returned to Malaysia.

© Reuters People wearing surgical masks as protection against the coronavirus at a railway station in Jakarta. Photo: Reuters

The Indonesian woman is thought to have passed the virus on to her 64-year-old mother, with both being treated in an isolation ward at Sulianti Saroso Infectious Diseases Hospital in Jakarta – where six others suspected of being infected with the virus have also been quarantined, according to The Jakarta Post.

“On February 16, [the first Indonesian patient] coughed a lot, so she went to a hospital and returned home immediately afterward. She then asked on February 26 to be hospitalised because her coughing hadn’t stopped. On February 28, she received a call from her Japanese friend [who said she] was being hospitalised in Malaysia after having tested positive for coronavirus,” Terawan said.

However, the older patient, in an interview with Indonesian media outlet Kompas, said her daughter did not know the Japanese citizen, who she said had attended a dance event hosted by her daughter. After learning from a friend that the Japanese woman had been diagnosed with the virus, the Indonesian women asked doctors to test them. “To be honest, we’re worried for our own safety,” the older patient said.

Singapore has in recent days reported new coronavirus cases in patients who tested positive after trips to Jakarta and the Indonesian island of Batam.

Monday’s announcement of the country’s first infections sent Jakarta residents into a buying frenzy, with hand sanitisers, floor cleaning supplies, instant noodles, water and feminine hygiene products flying off the shelves.

A visit on Tuesday to a popular wholesale supermarket in south Jakarta saw panicky shoppers loading whatever they could into red plastic shopping trolleys, while others grabbed boxes loaded with water and other essential supplies.

At local street markets, the prices of basic Indonesian cooking staples such as garlic and onions have tripled or quadrupled in price – all despite there having been no confirmed case of local transmission.

President Joko Widodo on Tuesday asked the public to remain calm, stating that the vast majority of people around the world infected with the virus have been successfully recovering.

“There’s no need to be too scared, but still be careful and vigilant, and carry out activities as usual,” he said.

“We are sure this problem can be handled. I invite all people to pray, that our two sisters [Indonesians with the virus] will recover. I invite people, let’s pray and give them support.”

© Reuters Indonesia's President Joko Widodo has urged citizens to remain calm. Photo: Reuters

Widodo added that he had instructed the police to investigate any companies or groups suspected of hoarding face masks to sell on at high prices. “I warn them,” he said.

Achmad Yurianto, head of the Disease Prevention and Control United at the Indonesian Ministry of Health, said he had visited the two Indonesian patients.

“Their conditions are not too bad, around 37.5 degrees Celsius. And they do not need oxygen help,” he said on Tuesday. “Their condition is better than yesterday.”

Indonesia is planning to establish a special hospital to treat people infected by the virus, although nothing has been set up as of yet.

© Xinhua A primary school pupils wearing a face mask receives a body temperature check at a school in West Java, Indonesia. Photo: Xinhua

The facility will be constructed with the help of the Indonesian Armed Forces, Public Works and Housing Minister Basuki Hadimuljono told reporters on Tuesday, adding that it would be run by the health ministry and his own.

It will be located about an hour away from the airport in Batam Island, close to Singapore, making it more easily accessible than Sebaru Island near Jakarta, where about 250 evacuees from two cruise ships are currently quarantined, he said, according to Bloomberg News.

Earlier this month, the Indonesian government quarantined 238 of its citizens who had been evacuated from the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the virus originated, at a facility in the remote Natuna Islands. All were released after two weeks.

Two family members of the infected Indonesians have tested negative for the virus, but authorities are still tracking about 50 members of a dance community that was frequented by one of the patients, Yurianto the disease prevention head said, as reported by Bloomberg.

About 180 crew members of World Dream cruise ship who were evacuated by authorities tested negative for the virus, while 60 of the 69 crew members of Diamond Princess cruise ship were also free from infection, he said.

On Tuesday, the government announced it was working on a second stimulus package to shore up Southeast Asia’s biggest economy, adding to the central bank’s aggressive moves to counter the impact of the coronavirus on financial markets.

A new tranche of fiscal measures would be “sizeable” and “bigger” than the first one of 10.3 trillion rupiah (US$722 million) announced last week, Coordinating Minister for the Economy Airlangga Hartarto said in an interview on Monday.

“We still need to inject more stimulus,” he said.

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