The coronavirus has spread to 19 countries. Thousands of people were reported exposed and more than 500 people died. Mostly in China.
The World Health Organization, WHO declared the new coronavirus as a public health emergency on Friday (1/31/2020).
However, until this moment no one in Indonesia has been infected by this dangerous virus from Wuhan.
In fact, the coronavirus has spread to 19 other countries and almost all countries close to Indonesia experienced this outbreak.
Like neighboring Australia, then in Asia, there are Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia, and the Philippines.
All reported having confirmed coronavirus cases.
Interestingly these countries all have populations that are much smaller than the 264 million population of Indonesia.
Then how come no one in Indonesia has been infected with the coronavirus?
Quoting The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age on Friday (1/31/2020) Indonesia was said to have no ability to detect the coronavirus.
One Indonesian biologist said Indonesian medical laboratories did not have the test kits needed quickly to detect the coronavirus.
The chemicals used in testing to help analyze and identify are not yet available in Indonesia.
The reagents needed are only available in the next few days.
While state laboratories are only able to detect the presence of potentially infected coronavirus families.
This group of viruses includes the common cold, MERS and viruses like SARS which are now extinct.
Indonesia has not positively confirmed the coronavirus case.
To identify new coronavirus infections from China, also known as 2019-nCov, medical authorities in Indonesia must detect a person's coronavirus family.
Then genetically order the results, a process that can take five or six days.
Professor Amin Soebandrio, chair of the Eijkman Molecular Biology Institute in Jakarta, who is involved in gene testing and sequencing work, confirmed The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age said that reagents that could reduce the time needed to detect coronavirus within hours were scheduled to arrive in Indonesia immediately.
"We are in the process of getting a special detection kit for the 2019 novel coronavirus. We hope that in the coming days we will receive a specific kit so we don't have to do gene sequencing," he said.
Professor Amin explained the possibility that the coronavirus had appeared in Indonesia but had not yet been detected.
Even though all countries close to Indonesia have reported it.
"If you ask if that is possible, of course, there is a possibility but we don't have evidence. At the moment, we don't know whether the virus has entered Indonesia or not," he said.
WHO WAS WORRY
Quoting The Sydney Morning Herald on Wednesday the WHO World Health Organization said that Indonesia must do more.
That's because of concerns in the country of 270 million people who have not reported any cases of the coronavirus.
WHO wants Indonesia to increase its vigilance and detection of cases from cirrhosis in health facilities.
This follows a series of Australians living in Bali who have been diagnosed with pneumonia, but testing procedures by health authorities are still limited.
WHO representative in Indonesia, Dr. Navaratnasamy Paranietharan, who works closely with the Ministry of Health, said the country had taken concrete steps.
This includes screening at international borders and setting up designated hospitals to handle potential cases.
"Indonesia is making preparations to prevent the entry of new coronaviruses," said Dr. Navaratnasamy Paranietharan.
However, there is still much work to be done in the field of supervision and detection of active cases and the preparation of fully appointed health facilities.
The availability of special test kits that are expected to arrive this week is a significant step in the right direction.
Previously the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age revealed that Indonesia did not yet have a kit test to detect this virus.
Instead, medical authorities rely solely on the pan-coronavirus test which can positively identify all viruses in the corona family such as flu, MERS, and SARS.
The sequencing of these genes is then needed to test positively about this virus, and the whole process takes up to five days.
Dr. Paranietharan said, "we (WHO) are concerned, Indonesia has not reported any confirmed cases in this country of nearly 270 million people."
"But we have been convinced by the relevant authorities that laboratory testing has worked well," he added.
More than 2 million Chinese tourists visit Indonesia in 2019.
Neighboring countries including Australia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Cambodia, and the Philippines have all recorded new cases.
The flight ban between China and Indonesia only took effect on Wednesday, prompting concern about the economic impact on the Indonesian economy.
Earlier this week, Indonesia brought 242 of its citizens from Wuhan, the center of the virus, to the remote Natuna Islands where they would be quarantined for two weeks.
Indonesian citizens living in Singapore are confirmed to have the virus on Tuesday (4/2)
News has been published Digest Online with the title
Almost All Asian Countries Affected By Corona Virus, But Why There Is No One In Indonesia Affected By The Virus, Finally Revealed This Is The Cause
