Some 150 thousand test kits have arrived in the country. The Hercules plane that picked up the test kits yesterday makes a transit stop in Natuna now. The plane will soon continue its flight to Jakarta.Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Indonesian government has received 150 thousand rapid test kits from China to diagnose coronavirus or COVID-19 in the country, Achmad Yurianto, the government’s spokesman for the handling of COVID-19, stated.
"Some 150 thousand test kits have arrived in the country. The Hercules plane that picked up the test kits yesterday makes a transit stop in Natuna now. The plane will soon continue its flight to Jakarta," Yurianto remarked during a press conference held by the COVID-19 Task Force at the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) Building in Jakarta on Sunday.
The test kits will be used to conduct screening to detect whether the patients test positive or negative for the presence of coronavirus. The test will be conducted by drawing blood samples from patients, and the result will be known in under two minutes.
The test kits will be distributed across Indonesia in accordance with the classification of the local people's risk of contracting COVID-19 based on the number of confirmed COVID-19 positive cases, he stated.
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Based on the confirmed positive cases of COVID-19 handled at hospitals, Yurianto said his side will track people, who had come in close contact with the patients. The rapid test kit will then be used on the people to screen for the presence of the virus, he noted.
The people, who had come in close contact with the patient, who had tested positive for COVID-19 are among those who are at a risk of contracting the coronavirus infection and must soon undergo a screening test for COVID-19.
In the near future, the Indonesian government will increase the number of rapid test kits to up to one million, he stated.
"In the not too distant future, we will bring them in larger numbers. We have targeted to receive one million rapid test kits to detect people, who are at a risk of contracting the coronavirus infection," he noted.
If somebody is tested less than seven days before having contracted the coronavirus infection, then the result will come negative. Hence, the test must be repeated a week after the patient contracted the coronavirus infection to check whether he/she tested positive or negative for COVID-19, he explained.
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Translator: Martha Herlinawati S/Suharto
Editor: Yuni Arisandy Sinaga
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