Indonesia finds new Covid-19 cluster after cargo ship infections
Indonesia reported a fresh cluster of 42 corona virus attacks among medical workers who also treated 13 Filipino ship crew who were ill with COVID-19, and is tracing a large number of others, a authorities official said on Sunday (May 23).
About 140 other medical workers came into close contact with the crew of the Panamanian-flagged cargo ship Hilma Bulker, who tested positive for the brand new corona virus after docking in Central Java on April 25, the province's governor, Ganjar Pranowo, told Reuters. The vessel acquired come from India.
Genome sequencing showed the crew had the highly infectious B.1617.2 variant first recognized in India, Ganjar explained, adding that one of these had down the road died in hospital. "For the present time we're actively tracing their nurses. Hundreds had possessed direct contact, close contact, and 42 had examined positive," Ganjar said by phone. With an increase of than 1.7 million confirmed cases and 49,000 deaths, Indonesia may be the worst-hit country in Southeast Asia.
Its COVID-19 crisis isn't as bad as that observed in India, but some health experts are worried mass gatherings as of this month's Eid al-Fitr celebrations and virus variants could result in a good surge of new situations in the world's fourth-most populous country.
Last month Indonesia halted issuing visas for foreigners who had been recently in India.
Ganjar said all the crew associates of the Hilma Bulker had self-quarantined about the ship, and 49 Indonesian officials who also oversaw the unloading of the ship had most tested undesirable for the virus.
The vessel had delivered refined sugars from India, Ganjar said. It still left Indonesia this month headed to the Philippine capital Manila, regarding to Refinitiv Eikon's vessel tracker.
