JAKARTA - Two Indonesians have tested positive for the coronavirus, the first confirmed cases in the country.

The two - a mother and her daughter - live in Depok, West Jakarta, and are now being treated at the Sulianto Saroso Infectious Disease Hospital in the capital.

Disclosing the cases on Monday (March 2), President Joko Widodo said both patients had been in contact with a Japanese national who tested positive in Malaysia after leaving Indonesia.

"The Indonesian team has traced the people whom the Japanese citizen visited. The man with Covid-19 met a 64-year old woman and her 31-year daughter," the president told reporters at the presidential palace.

"When the woman and her daughter were checked by our team, both were found to be sick. This morning the health minister reported to me that the mother and daughter tested positive for the coronavirus," said Mr Joko.

Mr Joko did not elaborate further on the patients but Health Minister Terawan Agus Putranto provided details on where the women lived and where they were being treated.

"Both are in good condition...they don't have serious breathing difficulties," Mr Terawan said.

The president underlined Indonesia's preparedness to tackle the outbreak of Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, saying that more than 100 hospitals with "good standard" isolation rooms were available as well as equipment that "complies with international standards" and sufficient reagent for testing.

The two women are not the first Indonesians to be infected. Earlier, an Indonesian maid in Singapore tested positive for the virus on Feb 4 but she has recovered after getting treatment in the country. Another nine Indonesian nationals working as crew members of a cruise ship, the Diamond Princess, were also infected.

Indonesia is also observing 257 crew members of two cruise ships, the World Dream and Diamond Princess, who are under quarantine in Sebaru Kecil Island near Jakarta after authorities in Hong Kong and Japan declared them negative for the virus.