No Indonesian haj pilgrims infected with Coronavirus: Minister

Health Minister Nafsiah Mboi says that so far no Indonesian haj pilgrim has been infected with Coronavirus, or Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Corona Virus (MERS-CoV).

"We are grateful that so far, no Indonesian haj pilgrim has been infected with the Coronavirus, and hopefully, no one will suffer from the illness until all of them have returned back to Indonesia," said Nafsiah in Jakarta on Monday as quoted by Antara news agency.

The minister said she received health reports on Indonesian haj pilgrims every day and several groups of the pilgrims had returned to Indonesia with no cases of Coronavirus being reported among them.

"Before their departure, the haj pilgrims had been asked to be vigilant against the Coronavirus and all haj officials have been trained on how to deal with the problem," said Nafsiah.

The officials, she said, were trained to be able to recognize as early as possible MERS-CoV-infected people through certain signs and symptoms, such as high fever.

"We will stay on alert, however," said Nafsiah.

Previously, the Health Ministry's director general of disease control and environmental health, Tjandra Yoga Aditama, said health officials had been instructed to continue to monitor the haj pilgrims until two weeks after their arrival in Indonesia to make sure there was no evidence of developing infection. (ebf)

source: www.thejakartapost.com