JAKARTA — President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has announced that two Indonesians have tested positive for the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the first two confirmed cases of the disease in the country. Jokowi said that the two people, a 64-year-old and her 31-year-old daughter, had been in contact with a Japanese citizen who tested positive in Malaysia on Feb. 27 after visiting Indonesia in early February. ADVERTISEMENT“When we received information [about the Japanese citizen] a team in Indonesia immediately traced who the Japanese citizen met with,” Jokowi told reporters at the State Palace on Monday. “We checked [the two people] and this morning I received a report from the health minister that they tested positive for the coronavirus.”He said the government was well-prepared to handle COVID-19 cases. Prior to this announcement, Indonesia had no confirmed cases of COVID-19, raising concerns about the country’s detection ability.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer March 02, 2020 05:03 UTC