With no flights since March, remote Indonesia regency records first COVID-19 case

JAKARTA — Puncak Jaya regency in the remote Pegunungan Tengah area of Papua reported its first case of COVID-19 on Monday.

Papua COVID-19 task force spokesperson Silwanus Sumule said the patient exhibited light to moderate symptoms and was being treated at the Mulia General Regional Hospital.

“He’s in stable condition and there is no indication that he needs to be transferred to another hospital,” he said on Monday, as quoted by kompas.com.

With the discovery of the case, 16 of Papua’s 29 regencies and municipalities now have confirmed COVID-19 cases.

Siliwanus said he had no idea where the patient contracted the disease as no flights had been permitted to the regency since March.

“We have urged health workers in Mulia city to carry out contact tracing, tests and treatment to find out how the disease spread to Puncak Jaya,” he said.

According to 2018 Statistics Indonesia data, Puncak Jaya has a population of 123,591 people and a population density of 50.52 people per square kilometer.

The announcement of the case came only two days after Yalimo, another regency in Pegunungan Tengah, recorded its first two cases of COVID-19.

As of Tuesday, four of the eight regencies in the Pegunungan Tengah mountain range have recorded COVID-19 cases – Jayawijaya and Puncak Jaya with one case each and Central Mamberamo and Yalimo with two cases each.

According to the government count, Papua had confirmed 1,498 COVID-19 cases with 16 fatalities and 709 recoveries as of Monday.