Jakarta (UCAN): Indonesia has quarantined 188 crew members brought home from the World Dream cruise ship, has been stuck in Hong Kong since February 5 following the discovery that it had carried passengers infected with the Covid-19 coronavirus during an earlier trip between Hong Kong and Vietnam.
Indonesian president, Joko Widodo, said that the crew tested negative for Covid-19, they would be quarantined and observed on Sebaru Island for 14 days. Sebaru, 60 kilometres north of Jakarta, was chosen because it is uninhabited and also houses an unused drug rehabilitation centre.
A team of Indonesian military, police and health officials accompanied them to the remote island.
Felix Gunawan, a Catholic doctor and chairperson of the Jakarta-based Association of Indonesian Catholic Health Services, said the government has taken an effective measure to prevent the spread of the virus.
“People should not be afraid. They (the crew members) are being taken care of in accordance with World Health Organisation procedures,” he said.
Indonesian nationals are also aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship, quarantined in Yokohama, Japan. Nine out of the 68 Indonesian crew members on board tested positive for the Covid-19 coronavirus and were quarantined in Japan.
Latest reports say at least 696 infections have been confirmed on the ship and six people have died.
Indonesia repatriated 238 of its citizens from Wuhan, China, on February 2. They were also quarantined for 14 days on Natuna Island off the northwest coast of Borneo. It reported its first two in-country cases on March 2.
Meanwhile, thousands of Muslims have cancelled hajj pilgrimages to Saudi Arabia due to coronavirus fears. Saudi Arabia has also banned Muslims from countries where virus infections have been reported, although Indonesia was not one of them.
As of March 7, 101,492 cases had been confirmed from across 80 countries and territories, with 3,485 deaths, mostly in mainland China. However 56,875 people have recovered.
