No Indonesians in Wuhan are symptomatic with coronavirus

Beijing (ANTARA) - The executive board of the Association of Indonesian Students in China (PPIT)-Wuhan Chapter confirmed on Tuesday that none of the Indonesians residing in Wuhan City are suspected of being infected with the novel coronavirus.

On the contrary, they are all well, and the PPIT activists regularly communicate with all Indonesians currently residing in Wuhan, PPIT-Wuhan Chapter Chairman Nur Musyafak noted in a press statement that ANTARA received in Beijing on Monday evening.

Hence, the PPIT-Wuhan Chapter has appealed to the people at large in Indonesia to not be influenced by misleading information and hoaxes over the condition of their countrymen in Wuhan currently being put on lockdown by the Chinese authorities to halt the spread of coronavirus.

“If media workers are keen to know the latest condition, they are able to get in touch with our contact persons to obtain accurate information on it,” Musyafak noted.

The PPIT-Wuhan Chapter’s contact persons can be contacted through WhatsApp numbers +6282238831045 and +6282386487066 as well as hotline numbers of the Directorate for the Protection of Citizens and Legal Entities Overseas (PWNI-BHI) of the Indonesian Foreign Ministry +6281290070027, the Indonesian Embassy in Beijing (+8613811284504, +8613146453974, +8613552235327), and the Indonesian Consulate General in Shanghai (+8613564406540).

The PPIT-Wuhan Chapter has been accruing data on the Indonesian citizens currently residing in the cities of Wuhan, Xianning, Huangshi, Jingzhou, Xianyang, and Enshi in Hubei Province. As of Monday at 2 p.m. local time, 244 Indonesians, comprising students and non-students, were registered by the PPIT-Wuhan.

“Through chairpersons of the PPIT chapters, we have been maintaining regular communication with all of them. They are all well, and none of them suffers from suspected symptoms of coronavirus,” Musyafak confirmed.

Representatives of the PPIT-Wuhan Chapter and those from the Indonesian Embassy in Beijing and the PWNI-BHI of the Indonesian Foreign Ministry had earlier held a teleconference to deliberate on the possibility of moving Indonesians out of their residing cities.

On Monday, the Indonesian Embassy in Beijing had earlier confirmed having continually monitored the living conditions of 93 Indonesians stranded in China’s Wuhan City, the epicenter of the deadly new coronavirus outbreak, and supplied staple food stocks to them.

"We are not leaving them behind. We continue to maintain regular contact with them. If something very urgent arises, we have provided four hotline numbers to them," Indonesian Ambassador to China Djauhari Oratmangun told ANTARA.

He revealed that the stocks of staple foods for the Indonesians in Wuhan might run out within the next five or six days.

However, before the stocks of basic necessities run dry, the embassy staffers would replenish them. The staple foods were bought online, and couriers would deliver them to coordinators of the Indonesian communities at universities and apartments, he noted.

Most of the 93 Indonesians currently stranded in Wuhan are students, but one or two of them are expatriates staying in apartments. The Indonesian Embassy supplies staple foods fairly to all of them without exception, he revealed.

In ensuring the safety and security of all Indonesians in the disaster zone, Ambassador Djauhari Oratmangun affirmed that the embassy authority has continued to intensively communicate with authorities in the Chinese government, Hubei provincial administration, and Wuhan city government.

"We also coordinate with our colleagues at the Indonesian Consulate General offices in Guangzhou and Shanghai," he stated.

The Indonesian Embassy in Beijing noted that at least 200 Indonesians reside in Wuhan. Most of them might have returned to Indonesia for holidaying, while 93 others got stranded owing to the Chinese government’s decision to put the city on lockdown to stop the spread of this deadly virus.

This novel coronavirus has, so far, claimed at least 106 lives in China, while several other countries, including the United States and Canada, have announced their confirmed cases.

However, none of the confirmed cases were found in Indonesia. Apart from this reality, since the issuance of an official statement by the World Health Organization (WHO) on the coronavirus outbreak in China, the Indonesian government has remained on alert.

As part of its precautionary measures, thermal scanners have been installed at various airports around the archipelago for screening international passengers. The thermal scanners are aimed at detecting any foreign tourists symptomatic with this novel coronavirus.

Several hospitals in Indonesia's big cities have also made necessary preparations to handle those with suspected coronavirus symptoms.