Nde mmadụ 272 nọ n'ihe ize ndụ maka Coronavirus na Indonesia

Indonesia is the largest Muslim country in the world with 272 million citizens. Indonesia had been doing a fantastic job keeping the COVID-19 virus under control with no cases reported until today.

The bad news came after the Indonesian Government evacuated dozens of Indonesian staff working on the COVID-19-stricken Diamond Princess cruise ship yesterday.

Monday two Indonesian citizens have tested positive for the new coronavirus after being in contact with an infected Japanese national, the country’s president said on Monday, the first cases to be reported in the world’s fourth most populous country.

The confirmation follows mounting concern that the country is failing to identify the transmission of the virus.

The two had been hospitalised in Jakarta, Joko Widodo told reporters at the presidential palace in the capital. The president said a 64-year-old woman and her 31-year-old daughter had tested positive after being in contact with a Japanese national who lived in Malaysia and had tested positive after returning from a trip to Indonesia.

An Indonesian medical team had traced the movements of the Japanese visitor before uncovering the cases, he said.

Health experts have warned that the lack of confirmed patients in Indonesia, a country of 272 million people, was surprising, especially given its close links to China. Indonesia, which receives significant Chinese investment, relies heavily on Chinese tourism and has a sizeable Chinese-Indonesian community, making up roughly 3% of the population.

Altogether two cases are not yet alarming, but it opens this country to new challenges also in regards to the nation’s important travel and tourism industry.