JAKARTA (THE JAKARTA POST/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) – A top official reported on Friday (March 13) that a coronavirus patient had died in Surakarta in Central Java.

It was the second death caused by the virus in Indonesia.

“The result had come back, he had tested positive,” Mr Achmad Yurianto of the Health Ministry’s Disease Control and Prevention Directorate-General, told kompas.com on Friday.

The Jakarta Post tried to confirm the news with Mr Achmad on Friday but he had yet to respond to questions at the time of writing.

Mr Achmad said the Surakarta Health Agency was tracking the deceased’s travel history and close contacts.

The first death from the virus in Indonesia occurred on Wednesday (March 11), involving a 53-year old British woman in Bali.

Indonesia has 34 confirmed cases.

Ms Eko Haryanti, the legal and public relations head at Dr Moewardi Regional General Hospital, confirmed that the individual who died on Wednesday had tested positive for Covid-19.

She said, however, that this was a general statement, as the Health Ministry held jurisdiction over official statements.

Earlier on Thursday, the hospital reported that a Covid-19 suspected patient had died at the hospital.

Dr Harsini, a pulmonologist at the hospital, said the patient was admitted to the hospital on Sunday along with one other suspected case.

Both suspects, each aged 59 and 60 year old, did not have any recent travel history outside the country, although they did visit Bogor, West, Java from Feb 25 to 28.

They complained of a cough and fever after returning from Bogor. The hospital had taken samples from the patient’s nose and throat to be tested for coronavirus, however, one of the patients died before the results had come back.

“The hospital has not determined the patient’s the exact cause of death but there is a possibility that the patient died due to coronavirus infection,” she told the Post on Thursday.

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