Jakarta steps up efforts to fight COVID-19 after two confirmed cases – City

The Jakarta administration has put in place a rapid response team to manage the rapidly spreading deadly respiratory coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) following two confirmed cases of Indonesians infected with the virus.

Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan said he had created the team due to concerns over the spread, Jakarta being both the capital and the center of economic activity.

"(Jakarta) has a lot of international interaction. Therefore, we have started to discuss concerns about the spread of COVID-19 in Indonesia and in particular in Jakarta in mid-January," he said on Monday. A press conference at the town hall.

Read also: 136 people observed for COVID-19 in Jakarta: Anies

The team, based at the Jakarta Health Agency office on Jl. The Kesehatan # 10 in Gambir, in central Jakarta, includes the head of the Jakarta Health Agency, the head of the Communication and Information Agency of Jakarta, the Office of National and Political Unity of Jakarta, the head of the Education Agency of Jakarta, the head of Jakarta Tourism and Creative Economy Agency and the Head of the Jakarta Economic Office.

On Monday, the administration monitored 21 people in homes and hospitals, and supervised 39 people in hospitals to show symptoms and to have traveled to countries with confirmed cases of COVID-19. Previously, he was monitoring 115 people, but they were declared free from the disease on Monday.

"We are vigilant and do our best. The Jakarta administration will keep you informed in a transparent manner," added Anies.

"The Jakarta Health Agency has conducted an epidemiological investigation to see the pattern of interaction of all those monitored, where they were and when."

The COVID-19 epidemic, originating in the city of Wuhan in Hubei Province in China, has hit more than 50 countries, and neighboring countries like Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam have reported confirmed cases.

The disease has infected 87,137 people and 2,977 deaths worldwide since Sunday, according to the World Health Organization.

President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo announced on Monday the first confirmed case in Indonesia with two Indonesians, a mother and daughter, who tested positive for the new coronavirus. The two women are treated at the Sulianti Saroso Infectious Disease Hospital (RSPI) in northern Jakarta.

The women, a 64-year-old woman and her 31-year-old daughter who both live in Depok in West Java, are believed to have contracted the virus from a Japanese citizen who tested positive in Malaysia on 27 February, after visiting Indonesia in early February.

Anies recommended that the public remain alert and contact the 112 or 119 call center if they meet someone with symptoms. On Friday, he also released a governor's decree urging officials, including mayors, agency heads, district and sub-district leaders, to educate the public about the risk of the disease and how to prevent it.

"We are coordinating with the Ministry of Health and other relevant agencies the conduct of monitoring and supervision," said the head of the Jakarta Widyastuti Health Agency in a statement released on Friday.

The central government recently decided to use Sebaru Kecil Island, an uninhabited 16.5 hectare islet in the Thousand Islands Regency, to observe 188 evacuees from the cruise ship World Dream for 14 days from from last Friday. They had actually tested negative for COVID-19 in a quarantine in Hong Kong, but authorities decided to test and observe them as part of precautionary measures.

University of Indonesia (UI) epidemiologist Tri Yunis Miko Wahyono, said the risk of spreading COVID-19 in Jakarta was high as there were direct international flights to the capital. . Therefore, the governor's decree was necessary to improve Jakarta's “epidemic preparedness”.

"The Indonesian risk (of spreading the disease) is enormous given the number of cases supervised and monitored in the country," he said. The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

To assess the risk, he suggested to the administration to analyze the number of people entering and leaving the city between January and February. (Dfr)