It’s been a year since COVID-19 arrived in Indonesia. It was Monday 2nd March 2020 when President Joko Widodo, together with former Health Minister Terawan Agus Putranto, announced the first COVID-19 cases in Indonesia.
Jokowi said the Japanese citizen who visited Indonesia and was found to be positive in Malaysia was traced back to two people, a 64-year-old mother and her 31-year-old daughter. These Indonesian women were treated at the Hospital for Infectious Diseases, or RSPI Prof. Dr. Sulianti Saroso, North Jakarta.
Tracing contact with COVID-19 patients was also carried out by the government in attempts to prevent wider transmission. Even with the research, COVID-19 positive patients continued to increase.
The first reported death from COVID-19 was on Wednesday 11th March 2020. Spokesperson for the government for Coronavirus Affairs, Achmad Yurianto announced the patient was a 53-year-old foreign woman who had imported the virus rather than catching it locally.
The woman was admitted to the hospital in a state of serious illness and there were comorbidities that preceded the disease including diabetes, hypertension, hyperthyroidism, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
A week later, Yurianto stated that the first two COVID-19 patients had recovered and were allowed to leave the isolation room on Friday 13th March 2020.
The government then made efforts to deal with COVID-19 which continued to increasing its spread. Among the measures put in place were a number of regulations used in order to reduce transmission.
These regulations were issued in the form of presidential regulations, government regulations, and presidential decrees.
On 27th January 2021, the number of patients exposed to COVID-19 has reached more than one million since this virus struck the country. At the same time, the government has been carrying out vaccination programs that began in February.
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