Indonesia probes report of coronavirus-infected tourist who was in Bali
Health workers wearing protective gear take part in an exercise in handling a suspected patient at Sanglah Hopital in Denpasar, Bali, on Feb12. Currently two Chinese patients are being treated in the isolation room of the hospital. – JP
DENPASAR, Bali — The Bali Health Agency says it will investigate and verify the information that a Chinese tourist who travelled from Wuhan to Bali last month tested positive for the novel coronavirus that causes the Covid-19 disease on Feb 5 after he arrived in Huainan city in Anhui province in China.
Bali Health Agency, Ketut Suarjaya, said the agency was currently trying to figure out the travel history and the activities of the patient, identified only as Jin, according to information obtained by The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.
“We have to check on the dates when he was in Bali. The incubation period of the coronavirus is 14 days. We don’t know yet where exactly he was infected. We don’t know yet whether he was infected with the coronavirus before he went to Bali. There is a possibility that he got the virus when he returned to China,” Suarjaya said.
“If we look at his [flight history], he departed from Wuhan on Jan 22, and returned to his country on Jan 28, I think he did not become infected in Bali. If so, he must have shown some symptoms when he was in Bali,” he added.
Suarjaya said there was a small possibility that the man was infected before he went to Bali.
“However, we will recheck the facts. We will follow up the information. We will trace all places he visited. […] And of course, we will raise our alertness,” he said.
Currently two Chinese patients are being treated in the isolation room of Sanglah Hospital in Bali. The two patients were admitted on Tuesday (Feb 11) last night. Since the Covid-19 outbreak the hospital has treated 32 patients who have shown symptoms of the disease, all previous 30 tests have come back negative.
Authorities in Anhui province, China, reported that the Chinese national who visited Bali late last month had tested positive for the virus that causes Covid-19.
The administration announced via Weibo on Feb 6 that the Huainan Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported on Feb 5 that Jin flew on Lion Air flight JT2618 from Wuhan – the epicenter of the Covid-19 outbreak – to Bali on Jan 22. The patient stayed on the island for about a week before flying on Garuda Indonesia flight GA858 from Bali to Shanghai on Jan 28.
The patient was found to have been infected with the disease by Huainan CDC according to the Weibo post.
“For passengers on the aforementioned flights, please enact preventative measures immediately, ” wrote the Anhui administration on its Weibo account, which is a local version of Twitter.
“Please don’t go out for a while and if you get a fever, go to the nearest hospital,” the statement said.
“Please use masks when you travel to the medical centre and don’t use public transportation,” it went on.
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