Don't Panic Even Though There Are Japanese People Who Catch COVID-19 After Coming From Indonesia

Illustrated photo (Irfan Meidianto / VOI)

JAKARTA - A Japanese national was reported to have contracted COVID-19 after traveling to Indonesia. The information was broadcast by the NHK news agency yesterday, Saturday, February 23.

In the news, a man aged 60 years who contracted COVID-19 was written after visiting Indonesia on February 15 for a vacation with his family. However, there was no mention of where the Japanese were in Indonesia or their identity. The news only said the man worked for a geriatric health facility in Tokyo.

Responding to this, Secretary of the Directorate General of Disease Prevention and Control of the Ministry of Health (Kemenkes) Achmad Yurianto said the Ministry of Health could not further investigate the news. Because, the information is not clear. However, this information is already known by the Ministry of Health.

"What is the name of the person and where is the Indonesian, where to date there has been no answer. Then what do I have to respond to? Well, I have also asked the Indonesian Embassy in Japan, they also don't know that," said Yuri when contacted by VOI via telephone, Sunday, 23 February.

He was reluctant to speculate on the possibility that the Japanese citizen would carry COVID-19 in his body when he came to Indonesia. According to him, this kind of speculation is unnecessary.

In addition, Yuri also said that Indonesia already has a standard operating procedure (SOP) to deal with the virus so that it is hoped that the community does not have to panic. "These kinds of things do not make us grind randomly," he said.

Previously, a Chinese national named Jin - whose last name is not clear - was also reported to have contracted the COVID-19 virus after traveling from Bali, Indonesia on January 22-28.

Ministry of Health straighten the news. After going to Bali, Jin went to Shang Hai, China before contracting the virus. So, it is not certain that Jin will be infected with the COVID-19 virus in Bali.

The Ministry of Health's denial was also strengthened by the results of testing specimens from 14 people in Bali who were suspected of having contracted the virus. As a result, none of the results showed that they were infected. So that the Ministry of Health assessed that Jin was exposed to the COVID-19 virus after visiting Shang Hai.