Covid-19 Prevention Being Intensified
The government has isolated the patients, is tracing their close contacts and monitoring people who have visited areas where the novel coronavirus has spread.
People flock to Jl. M.H. Thamrin in Central Jakarta for Car Free Day from 6:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on Sunday morning (8/3/2020). Despite fears over the spread of the novel coronavirus, members of the public turned out en masse for the popular weekly event.
The total of confirmed Covid-19 cases in Indonesia now numbers six. The government has isolated the patients, is tracing their close contacts and monitoring people who have visited areas where the novel coronavirus has spread.
JAKARTA, KOMPAS — Confirmed Covid-19 cases in Indonesia increased on Sunday afternoon (8/3/2020) from four to six people. Likewise, the total of suspected novel coronavirus cases increased to 21. In order to prevent further spread of the disease, the government must intensify the screening of all possible transmission routes.
On Sunday at a press conference at the Presidential Office in Jakarta, the government’s Covid-19 management spokesman, Achmad Yurianto, announced that two more people – Cases 5 and 6 – had tested positive for Covid-19, adding to the previous confirmed cases (Cases 1, 2, 3 and 4).
Case 5 is a 55-year-old man who had been in isolation for several days at Jakarta’s Sulianto Saroso Infectious Diseases Hospital (RSPI). He is related to Case 1 and Case 2, while Case 6 is a 36-year-old crewman of the Diamond Princess cruise ship docked in Yokohama, Japan. He is being treated in isolation at Persahabatan Hospital, Jakarta.
Until Saturday, the government had tested 620 samples to ascertain the presence or absence of the new coronavirus. A total of 327 samples have sent from hospitals in 25 provinces. The test results indicated 12 suspected cases of Covid-19 infection, of which two were found in Bali.
The majority of cases are suspected of links to Case 1 and Case 2, or to the Diamond Princess crewman. The rest, like the two suspected Covid-19 cases in Bali, have no epidemiological ties to either Case 1 or 2.
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Health workers from the puskesmas (Community Health Center) in Tebet hold a public session to teach the proper use of hand sanitizers during Car Free Day on Sunday (8/3/2020). Puskesmas Tebet manned four points along Jl. M.H. Thamrin in Central Jakarta as part of the Jakarta Health Office’s public awareness efforts to combat the spread of Covid-19.
The government is continuing to track down those who may have been in close contact with the four initial cases. A separate group of people may have been exposed to the coronavirus, as one of the confirmed cases linked to Case 1 and Case 2 is in Bandung, West Java.
”We will keep tracing [connections to] the Jakarta cluster, because the five confirmed cases are from this cluster. One of the suspected cases linked to this cluster is being treated in Bandung. Tracing will also be conducted for the Cases 3, 4 and 5 sub-clusters,” said Yurianto, who is also the Directorate General of Disease Prevention and Control secretary at the Health Ministry.
Kompas contributor Harry Bhaskara reported from Brisbane, Australia, that a woman who recently arrived from Indonesia became the 12th confirmed case in the state of Victoria. The woman, in her 50s, arrived in Melbourne on 2 March by a Virgin Airlines flight from Perth. “She flew from Jakarta to Perth on 27 February. Symptoms of the disease appeared on 29 February,” read the statement from the Australian Health Department, as quoted by 7NEWS.com.au on Sunday.
The woman tested positive for Covid-19 on Saturday evening, and is now in self-isolation at home under the care of her family.
Developers visit on Sunday (8/3/2020) the planned site of an infectious diseases hospital on Galang Island in Batam municipality, Riau Islands province. The hospital, which is being developed specifically for treating people with Covid-19, is to be completed in one month.
Intensifying prevention
To contain the spread of Covid-19 in Indonesia, the government must further intensify its prevention measures. Deputy director Herawati Supolo Sudoyo of the Eijkman Molecular Biology Institute cited fast and accurate screening as the key to curbing the spread of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) and which is believed to be transmitting locally in Indonesia. Several countries outside China like Italy, Iran and the U.S. are facing rapidly rising numbers of confirmed cases due to delays in detection. “We should not make light of Covid-19,” she said.
Screening would also prevent delayed treatment. Herawati quoted some of the latest studies and case management in other countries, particularly in China, which referred to early diagnosis and immediate treatment from the outset to prevent patients from reaching the critical point that could delay recovery.
The critical point for patients occurred when the virus had reached the lungs.
As quoted by China’s Xinhua news agency, Peking University First Hospital infectious diseases director Wang Guiqiang said that contracting SARS-CoV-2 could trigger an acute and severe condition in patients who had previously shown only mild symptoms. This meant that diagnosis and treatment should begin as early as possible. The critical point for patients occurred when the virus had reached the lungs.
With correct management, people with Covid-19 can recover fully. Until Sunday, it was reported that 60,558 of 107,351 cases had recovered. This virus is different from influenza viruses, from which people can recover without hospitalization. Early intensive care is needed to avoid acute infections that could lead to death. The occurrence of co-infection with dengue in some coronavirus patients abroad should also be heeded.
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Staffers stand by on Sunday (8/3/2020) at a tent that houses a coronavirus field hospital in SCBD, Jakarta. Artha Graha Peduli has set up 10 tents across the capital in a bid to cut the virus’ route of transmission.
Monitoring
The Indonesian government is trying to sever the route of Covid-19 transmission. According to Yurianto, all regional health offices were actively monitoring any residents under surveillance (ODP) – people with a history of travel to countries with human-to-human Covid-19 transmission.
A Malang resident named Indah, 42, said that a local health officer visited her one week after she returned from a trip to Singapore.
“I returned from Singapore on 1 March. On 7 March, a health officer came to my house to check my blood pressure and [health] condition,” Indah said via SMS. The officer also asked what countries she had visited during her travels and her health condition a week after she had returned to Indonesia.
Regional hospitals were also treating patients under surveillance (PDP), or ODPs showing symptoms of influenza such as coughing and shortness of breath. Hospitals deliver samples obtained from the PDPs for testing by the Health Ministry’s Research and Development Agency. Puskesmas (community health centers) in all regions were also optimizing surveillance and monitoring measures.
An Indonesian Navy landing craft utility (LCU) transports 188 Indonesian crew of the World Dream cruise ship on Thursday (5/3/2020) from the navy’s Dr. Soeharso hospital ship to Sebaru Kecil Island in Thousand Islands regency, off the shores of Jakarta. At least 68 of the crew members will be tested for COVID-19, while another crewman will receive a complete physical examination.
Galang Island
Concurrently, the government is expediting the construction of a special hospital for Covid-19 patients on Galang Island, Riau Islands province. Like the specialized hospitals in Wuhan, China, the hospital’s design employs the modular system. The project is scheduled for completion within a month.
Indonesian Military commander Air Chief Marshal Hadi Tjahjanto said in Batam that the hospital would have a capacity to treat 1,000 patients. There were also 50 isolation rooms with negative pressure equipped with high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters. “Twenty rooms of the total will be used as intensive care units (ICU),” Hadi said during a site inspection on Galang Island, on which he was accompanied by National Police chief Gen. Idham Azis and National Disaster Mitigation Agency head Doni Monardo. (NTA/EDN/NDU/AIK)
