Singapore has assured that the Indonesian migrant worker may be able to recover from the coronavirus infection. The costs of the treatment will fully be borne by the Government of Singapore
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Singapore is covering the medical treatment costs of an Indonesian migrant worker currently hospitalized there after the worker was diagnosed with the novel coronavirus symptoms, spokesman of the Indonesian Foreign Ministry Teuku Faizasyah said. "Singapore has assured that the Indonesian migrant worker may be able to recover from the coronavirus infection. The costs of the treatment will fully be borne by the Government of Singapore," Teuku Faizasyah told journalists in Jakarta on Wednesday.

The identity of the Indonesian worker, being treated at Singapore General Hospital, has yet to be ascertained because it is protected by Singapore's Personal Data Protection Act, he stated.

As a result, the worker's family could not yet be notified by the Indonesian government, Faizasyah remarked.

"This is a condition that does not allow Singaporean authorities to notify our worker's identity. They must withhold that information. So, we do not know, and cannot communicate with the worker's family," Faizasyah said.

Referring to information that the Indonesian Embassy in Singapore earlier received, the migrant worker was employed as a domestic worker by a Singaporean citizen who was infected by this new coronavirus.

This ailing Indonesian is the 21st coronavirus case in Singapore but is the first confirmed case of an Indonesian.

The novel coronavirus outbreak originally struck the Chinese city of Wuhan in Hubei Province at the end of December 2019.

As of Tuesday, the death toll of this virus rose to 479 and the number of confirmed 2019-nCoV cases in Hubei Province had reached 16,678.

Considering the rising mortality rate and the number of those infected inside and outside mainland China, the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared this 2019-nCoV as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.

According to WHO's official website, as of February 3, 2020, 23 countries have reported confirmed 2019-nCoV cases. Among them are Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Singapore, Thailand, Australia, Malaysia, USA, and the Philippines. (INE)

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Translator: Yashinta DP, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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