Indonesia’s capital is to close all schools and has ordered remote teaching for at least two weeks starting next week to curb the spread of COVID-19, Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan said yesterday.
The world’s fourth-most populous country on Friday reported 35 new coronavirus cases, including two toddlers, bringing its total to 69. At least four people have died of the virus.
The doubling of confirmed infections had already triggered some schools to announce closures ahead of Baswedan’s announcement, while some companies had also suggested employees work from home.
Photo: Reuters
Out of 69 confirmed coronavirus cases nationwide, an unspecified number of people were detected in many places across Jakarta, a city of 10 million people, Baswedan said.
The number of people under surveillance in the city had jumped to 586 people as of March 12, compared with 129 at the beginning of the month, while the number of patients suspected of having COVID-19 had surged to 261 from 39 in the same period.
“What must be done right now is to reduce interactions between residents. Social distancing measures must be taken,” Baswedan said, urging residents to also stay at home and not travel unless necessary.
“Children, based on data, not many of them have been infected with COVID-19, but they are carriers and they spread the virus from one adult to another,” he told a news conference.
Doctors and nurses in the city have been under strain trying to treat patients and some of them have been infected, Baswedan said.
The governor had also decided to close museums, parks and zoos for two weeks beginning on Friday.
The city of Solo in central Java has also announced school closures.
Indonesia only confirmed its first cases of the virus last week while some neighbors had reported scores of cases far earlier, raising concerns among medical experts about infections either not being reported or going undetected.
The central government has faced criticism for withholding information regarding the spread of the virus, arguing that it could cause panic.
It regularly discloses the number of patients and deaths, but does not say where infections are detected.
Neighboring Australia has advised its citizens to reconsider overseas travel plans including to Indonesia, citing a growing risk of transmission in the country and limited availability of testing and infection control facilities.
In months, Lo Yuet-ping would bid farewell to a centuries-old village he has called home in Hong Kong for more than seven decades. The Cha Kwo Ling village in east Kowloon is filled with small houses built from metal sheets and stones, as well as old granite buildings, contrasting sharply with the high-rise structures that dominate much of the Asian financial hub. Lo, 72, has spent his entire life here and is among an estimated 860 households required to move under a government redevelopment plan. He said he would miss the rich history, unique culture and warm interpersonal kindness that defined life in
AERIAL INCURSIONS: The incidents are a reminder that Russia’s aggressive actions go beyond Ukraine’s borders, Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said Two NATO members on Sunday said that Russian drones violated their airspace, as one reportedly flew into Romania during nighttime attacks on neighboring Ukraine, while another crashed in eastern Latvia the previous day. A drone entered Romanian territory early on Sunday as Moscow struck “civilian targets and port infrastructure” across the Danube in Ukraine, the Romanian Ministry of National Defense said. It added that Bucharest had deployed F-16 warplanes to monitor its airspace and issued text alerts to residents of two eastern regions. It also said investigations were underway of a potential “impact zone” in an uninhabited area along the Romanian-Ukrainian border. There
The governor of Ohio is to send law enforcement and millions of dollars in healthcare resources to the city of Springfield as it faces a surge in temporary Haitian migrants. Ohio Governor Mike DeWine on Tuesday said that he does not oppose the Temporary Protected Status program under which about 15,000 Haitians have arrived in the city of about 59,000 people since 2020, but said the federal government must do more to help affected communities. On Monday, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost directed his office to research legal avenues — including filing a lawsuit — to stop the federal government from sending
A Zurich city councilor has apologized and reportedly sought police protection against threats after she fired a sport pistol at an auction poster of a 14th-century Madonna and child painting, and posted images of their bullet-ridden faces on social media. Green-Liberal party official Sanija Ameti, 32, put the images on Instagram over the weekend before quickly pulling them down. She later wrote on social media that she had been practicing shots from about 10m and only found the poster as “big enough” for a suitable target. “I apologize to the people who were hurt by my post. I deleted it immediately when I
RSS