Indonesia Registers 1st Two Cases Of Coronavirus - President

Indonesia Registers 1st Two Cases of Coronavirus - President

Indonesia has registered its first two cases of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), President Joko Widodo said on Monday

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 02nd March, 2020) Indonesia has registered its first two cases of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), President Joko Widodo said on Monday.

According to the Indonesian leader, a woman, 64, and her 31-year-old daughter tested positive for the disease. The authorities found that the women had contacted a Japanese national who tested positive in Malaysia on February 27 after visiting Indonesia in early February.

"When we received information [about the Japanese citizen], a team in Indonesia immediately traced who the Japanese citizen met with. We checked [the mother and daughter] and this morning, I received a report from the health minister that they tested positive for the coronavirus," Widodo said as quoted by The Jakarta Post.

The president noted that over 100 hospitals with quarantine sectors equipped in accordance with international standards had been prepared as a precautionary measure to combat the disease.

Japan has been among the Asian countries that have suffered the most from the spread of the coronavirus, confirming over 200 total cases on its soil so far.

However, South Korea has become the hardest hit country outside China. Over the past 24 hours alone, 476 new cases of the disease were confirmed in the country, bringing the total number to 4,212. According to the South Korean heath authorities, eight patients died from the disease between Sunday and Monday, bringing the total number of fatalities to 26.