JAKARTA - Indonesia confirmed on Friday (March 6) two more cases of the coronavirus, bringing the number of those tested positive to four.
The two Indonesian nationals - aged 33-year old and 34-year old - had close contact with Case 1 during a dance event in Jakarta, said Mr Achmad Yurianto, government spokesman for the Covid-19 situation.
"Out of seven people (we traced), there were two people who were confirmed and became Case 3 and Case 4," Mr Achmad said.
Both patients are being treated at the Sulianti Saroso Infectious Disease Hospital in North Jakarta.
Mr Achmad said that based on the latest report as of Friday afternoon, the two patients had high temperature, runny nose and cough although they reported no breathing difficulties.
He added: "We hope to intervene with their situation soon so that they will be better."
Mr Achmad declined to reveal whether the two patients are female or male and where they were infected, but indicated that "they do not live in the same house".
The two patients were tested after contact tracing of over around 20 people who attended the same dance event with Case 1 in mid-February.
They were among seven people connected to Case 1 and had mild to moderate flu symptoms, resulting in their isolation at the hospital by the health authorities.
Case 1, a 31-year-old Indonesian national, contracted the virus from a Japanese woman who also took part in the event and was declared positive for the virus in Malaysia in late February. Case 1, along with her 64-year old mother, were confirmed positive on Monday.
As of Friday, nine people were being isolated and treated at the Sulianto Saroso Infectious Hospital, a referral hospital for the Covid-19. Four of them were confirmed cases, while the rest remained suspects.
Case 1 and Case 2 are "in good condition" and their health indicators, such as temperature and blood pressure, are "normal", while their cough intensity has declined, the hospital's president director Mohammad Syahril said on Friday. They can also perform their daily activities without assistance from nurses, he added.
Including eight in Jakarta, more than 130 hospitals across the sprawling archipelago have been designated as referral hospitals.
The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests for the virus will also be available at more laboratories controlled by the Health Ministry in cities outside the capital to allow much rapid response.
Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous nation, stepped up its fight to contain the spread of the virus by banning the entry and transit of foreign visitors coming from 10 places worst-stricken by the coronavirus in Iran, Italy and South Korea from Sunday.
But travellers departing from any other places in the three countries will be allowed entry if they produce a health certificate issued by the countries' respective health authorities that declare the travellers as healthy. The certificate must be presented to airlines during check-in.
Indonesia also plans to build a hospital to treat people with Covid-19 on Galang Island in Riau Islands province. The hospital will have a capacity of 1,000 patients with isolation rooms for around 50 people. It will also host quarantine for Indonesians living overseas who will be evacuated when the situation in the countries where they live are in lock-down.
