The Chairperson Of The COVID-19 Task Force Doni Monardo Believes He Has Got COVID-19 While Eating

Chairperson of the Task Force for Handling COVID-19 as well as Chair of the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB), Doni Monardo (Photo: BNPB documentation)

JAKARTA - Chairperson of the COVID-19 Handling Task Force Doni Monardo suspected that he had contracted the corona virus when he removed his mask while eating at the disaster sites he visited, namely West Sulawesi and South Kalimantan.

During one week leading the disaster management in both locations, Doni who is also the Chairman of the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) ate with several other people.

"So I believe it was when I took off my mask and ate that I was infected," said Doni in a written statement, Saturday, January 23.

In fact, during the COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia, Doni admitted that he always tried to avoid exposure to the virus by obeying all recommendations from health experts.

However, of all the preventive measures, it seems that there are still gaps so that they are exposed to the corona virus. Therefore, Doni appealed to the public to temporarily avoid eating together in order to prevent transmission.

"Because when we eat, we definitely take off our masks and the transmission gap opens. We recommend that when eating, there are no other people around us to prevent infection or infection. For a while, eating can be alone or separated from other people, "said Doni.

Previously, Doni claimed to be positive for the corona virus after undergoing busy activities in the past week, namely leading the disaster management for the West Sulawesi earthquake and floods in South Kalimantan.

Doni arrived in Mamuju on Friday, January 15 or less than 12 hours from the time the earthquake in West Sulawesi occurred. Next, Doni moved to Banjarmasin on Sunday, January 17th. Then, Doni returned to Mamuju on Tuesday, January 19 morning and returned to Jakarta yesterday.

Then on Friday, January 22 afternoon, after returning from a work visit, Doni and all the staff who accompanied him underwent a PCR test. As a result, one of his staff also tested positive.

"From the PCR test results last night, this morning I got a positive result for COVID-19 with a CT Value of 25. I didn't feel any symptoms at all and this morning I am still doing normal activities with light exercise walking 8 kilometers," he said.

Currently, Doni is conducting independent isolation while continuing to monitor developments in handling COVID-19 and disaster management in various regions.