Science · 2020 · 11 citations · 0 references
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Indonesia finally reported its first two COVID-19 cases on Monday At a press conference in Jakarta, President Joko Widodo announced that two women aged 31 and 64 from Depok had contracted the virus But some scientists believe the country, which has close ties to China, almost certainly has a “silent epidemic” within its borders and should urgently boost its surveillance efforts Scientists at the Eijkman Institute for Molecular Biology tell Science they have offered to the Indonesian Ministry of Health to help test more people, but have been snubbed so far The detection of the first two cases, along with measures to prevent the spread of the disease, demonstrate Indonesia’s seriousness and capability to deal with the COVID-19 epidemic, Widodo said yesterday “Since the beginning, we have been serious in strictly following WHO [World Health Organization] guidelines regarding the coronavirus issue,” he said