Indonesia Claims Indonesians Who Came to S’pore Did not Contract COVID-19 in Indonesia

2020-03-14 , 10:40 am

In case you didn’t know, Singapore is gearing up to contain the Covid-19 outbreak within Singapore.

And one of the things that the authorities have warned about, is the increase in the number of cases due to import cases.

Import cases refer to people who carry the Covid-19 virus into Singapore.

Cases Of Indonesians Coming To S’pore After Showing Symptoms

On 13 Mar 2020, we wrote that there are 5 Indonesian Covid-19 cases in Singapore, and some of them were showing symptoms even before they landed in Singapore.

A 64-year-old Indonesian man reported symptoms while he was in Indonesia and went to a hospital in Jakarta on 2 Mar. He then came into Singapore and was detected with the nasal swab test at the checkpoint.

A 56-year-old Indonesian woman had reported symptoms earlier in Indonesia on 6 Mar but came to Singapore on 9 Mar and was tested positive for Covid-19.

Which made Singaporeans wonder: are Indonesians deliberately coming to Singapore to check if they have the coronavirus?

Indonesian Official Denied The Claims

Well, if you couldn’t sleep last night because you couldn’t stop thinking about this, you should get a life first.

And also, an Indonesian official has come forward to answer your burning question so that you can finally rest in peace.

The secretary of the Health Ministry’s Disease Control and Prevention Directorate General, Achmad Yurianto denied the claims.

He said that the Indonesians who were detected with Covid-19 “did not contract the virus in Indonesia”.

Either that or that they were down with an influenza illness and tested negative.

He went on to add that it is “possible” that the patients were still “negative” when they looked for medical help here.

But he has more to say.

S’pore Government Is Hiding Information From Us

He claims that Singapore’s Ministry of Health is hiding information about Indonesian patients from his ministry.

The Indonesian authorities have asked for the identities of the Indonesian nationals in Singapore, he said, yet they did not receive any names.

Without information, how could they do contact tracing in Indonesia?

Singapore is “adamant” on not revealing these patients’ identities, he added.

S’pore Embassy Responds

With such accusations, you know Singapore has to respond.

After all, our reputation for fighting against the Covid-19 is second-to-one, and to be accused of withholding information in such crucial moments would make us look petty.

The Singapore Embassy in Jakarta said that Singapore’s Ministry of Health (MOH) holds patients as the “utmost priority”.

This includes “patient confidentiality and privacy policy”.

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But, they add, they didn’t stop the Indonesian patients from contacting their own embassies in Singapore directly.

Did Singapore really withhold information from Indonesia?!

Then, Singapore’s very own Ministry of Health responded to the accusations as well.

Huh? We Did Ah.

According to Mothership, the Ministry of Health said they had shared information with the Indonesian authorities.

They said that both Singapore and Indonesia are “State Parties to the World Health Organization International Health Regulations (IHR)”.

And that they have used the official IHR channel to share information on all the confirmed Covid-19 cases involving Indonesians.

This is so Indonesia can conduct “contact tracing”.

They added that the Indonesian National Focal Point (NFP), an official from the Indonesian Health Ministry, has acknowledged that he’s received all correspondence sent by his counterpart in Singapore.

In short, they’ve sent information over and it was “blue-ticked“.

*Cue roll eyes*

This isn’t the first time the Indonesian health ministry cried foul.

Previously, they’ve also accused Japan of not sharing information about the Japanese who was infected in Indonesia.

Indonesians Disappointed In Indonesia’s Detecting Capability

With the increase in the number of Indonesians who are tested positive in other countries, Indonesians are now calling for the government to “up their standards” when it comes to detecting Covid-19.

With a population of 250 million, Indonesia only reported 69 confirmed Covid-19 cases and 2 deaths.

A Twitter user asks if the Indonesian health ministry is “ashamed” that people in Indonesia are travelling to other countries test for Covid-19.

Here’s a direct translation:

From its chronology, Case 147 arrived specifically for Singapore to be tested for COVID-19 and treated in Singapore.

Is @KemenkesRI not ashamed that Indonesians have fled to other countries to be tested and treated for this COVID-19?

Which brings up an important point.

We’ve always thought that Indonesians travelled to Singapore because they can enjoy the free treatment for Covid-19 that was offered previously.

But what if they simply wanted the free test?

And we can’t exactly not test them since introducing them into Singapore without checking will just lead to a more serious outbreak here.

Unless Indonesia is going to buck up and handle their Covid-19 properly, we’ll probably be stuck with this situation.

Tell me, why does this remind me of the haze situation again?