Observation Period to Be Extended to 28 Days

KOMPAS/BAHANA PATRIA GUPTA

An officer sets up a treatment room on the KRI Dr. Soeharso ship at Koarmada II Pier in Surabaya, East Java, on Thursday (20/2/2020). The government has prepared the KRI Dr. Soeharso as one option for picking up 74 Indonesian citizens working aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship that is currently quarantined in Japan. Four of the 78 Indonesians on the cruise liner have tested positive for COVID-19. The Indonesian Navy vessel with a crew of 153 people is ready to be dispatched at any time.

The government plans to extend the observation period for Indonesian citizens who will be evacuated from Japan to 28 days.

JAKARTA, KOMPAS — The government has confirmed that it will soon evacuate Indonesian citizens from the Diamond Princess cruise ship. While the exact time for the evacuation has not been determined, the Health Ministry has announced that the Indonesians would be placed in quarantine for 28 days upon their return to Indonesia.

Disease Prevention and Control Directorate General secretary Achmad Yurianto said the observation period for Indonesian citizens from the Diamond Princess was longer than for those repatriated from Wuhan, China, as they would undergo an observation period of two times the COVID-19 incubation period, which is 28 days.

"In this group (Indonesian citizens on the Diamond Princess) there is concern that there is a new mutation of COVID-19. According to the World Health Organization, clinical symptoms in confirmed cases are relatively mild, some [patients] are even reported not to have any symptoms, " Yurianto said in Jakarta on Friday (21/2/2020). The Diamond Princess, which lies at anchor in Yokohama, Japan, has been declared a center of virus transmission, with 15 percent of the people aboard having contracted the coronavirus. The transmission that occurred in Hubei province, China, was recorded at 5 percent.

There are around 3,700 passengers and crew members from more than 50 countries and territories aboard the cruise ship. Seventy-eight of them are Indonesian citizens; all of them work as crew members. Four of them have tested positive for COVID-19. In total, 630 people aboard have contracted the virus.

KOMPAS/BAHANA PATRIA GUPTA

Officers discuss the plan to repatriate Indonesian citizens from Japan using the KRI Dr. Soeharso ship at Koarmada II Pier in Surabaya, East Java, on Thursday (20/2/2020). The government has prepared the KRI Dr. Soeharso as one option for picking up 74 Indonesian citizens working aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship that is currently quarantined in Japan. Four of the 78 Indonesians on the cruise liner have tested positive for COVID-19. The Indonesian Navy vessel with a crew of 153 people is ready to be dispatched at any time.

The Japanese government allows uninfected people to leave the ship. Every country is allowed to evacuate its citizens after the 14-day quarantine period has ended. However, the health of passengers and crewmembers is being examined in an assessment expected to finish on Saturday (22/2/2020).

According to Health Minister Terawan Agus Putranto, the government will carry out the evacuation either by sea or by air. Japanese Health Minister Katsunobu Kato explained that the mass evacuation from the ship ended on Friday. Non-Japanese passengers will be flown to their countries of origin on flights chartered by each government. A number of passengers and crew members who have not completed 14 days of quarantine due to having had recent contact with infected people still live in Japanese territory. They will be transported to a number of facilities for observation.

Closely watched

In the city of Semarang, Central Java, three patients – two Indonesians and a Japanese national – are being closely monitored at the Dr. Kariadi Hospital for suspected COVID-19. Doctors have taken throat swabs for laboratory testing.

In West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), students who have just returned from China and tourists from that country have been observed. No symptoms of new coronavirus infection were found in 33 people observed.

AFP/PHILIP FONG

A bus drives through dockside past the Diamond Princess cruise ship, in quarantine due to fears of new COVID-19 coronavirus, at Daikoku pier cruise terminal in Yokohama on February 21, 2020. - Hundreds of people have been allowed to leave the ship after testing negative for the disease and many have returned to their home countries to face further quarantine.AFP/Philip FONG==A bus drives past the quarantined cruise ship Diamond Princess at the Daikoku Pier cruise terminal in Yokohama on Friday (21/2/2020). Hundreds of people have been allowed to leave the ship after testing negative for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), and many have since returned to their home countries to face further quarantine.

According to the head of medical services at the NTB provincial hospital, Dr. I Nyoman Wijaya Kusuma, in Mataram, the observation lasted 14 days. (AP/AFP/BEN/TAN/ DIT/ZAK)