Over 50 Indonesian Reporters Tested Positive For COVID-19 In Short Period Of Time - Union

BANGKOK (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 15th July, 2020) A COVID-19 cluster has emerged among reporters in Indonesia's East Java province as the virus infected 57 media workers during a short period of time, while three coronavirus carriers have died, the Alliance of Independent Journalists of Indonesia (AJI) said on Tuesday.

All reporters tested positive for COVID-19 in late June and July in Surabaya, the capital of East Java.

"So far 57 media workers have tested positive for COVID-19 through PCR [polymerase chain reaction] tests," Miftah Faridl, the head of the Surabaya branch of AJI said, as quoted by the Jakarta Post newspaper.

According to the newspaper, two media workers who tested positive for the disease are currently hospitalized.

Faridl explained that disregard to social distancing measures at official events has contributed to a high infection rate among journalists.

Indonesia has so far confirmed over 78,500 COVID-19 cases and more than 3,700 deaths. East Java has been seeing a high number of infections recently. The province has reported nearly 17,000 cases since the end of May, and almost half of them in Surabaya.