We are still hunting Is downPontianak, W Kalimantan (ANTARA) - The Pontianak city police have launched a search for a flight passenger who reportedly fled from a city hotel to avoid being placed under isolation after she was detected with COVID-19 symptoms.
The passenger has been identified as Is, 42. She took a Surabaya-Pontianak flight and was detected with COVID-19 symptoms during a random test.
But, before she could be transferred to a flat prepared by the authorities in the city for isolating those suffering from COVID-19 symptoms, she escaped from the Jeruju Baru Hotel, said police.
"We are still hunting Is down," Pontianak city police chief, Sen.Coms.Komarudin, told local journalists in Pontianak, the capital of West Kalimantan province, on Tuesday.
Police have not been able to track Is’ phone and so, they have not been able to ascertain her whereabouts, he added.
Is, a resident of East Java's Jombang district, was detected with possible COVID-19 symptoms during a random test conducted by the West Kalimantan provincial authority on 21 passengers scheduled to take a Surabaya-Pontianak flight operated by Citilink on August 1, 2020.
Besides Is, another passenger, identified as Mis (58), also tested "reactive" for the coronavirus. Mis is a resident of Kubu Raya district in West Kalimantan province, Sen.Coms.Komarudin said.
Due to this case, the transportation authorities in West Kalimantan have suspended Citilink's Surabaya-Pontianak flight service until August 8, 2020 to halt the potential inflow of infected passengers into the province.
Meanwhile, PT Citilink Indonesia, a subsidiary of the Garuda Indonesia Group, has admitted that one of the two air passengers whose rapid test results came back “reactive" recently boarded an aircraft belonging to the low-cost carrier on the Surabaya-Pontianak flight route.
"The other air passenger did not fly with Citilink," Resty Kusandarina, VP, corporate secretary and corporate social responsibility, PT Citilink Indonesia, noted in a statement.
The Citilink passenger had met all COVID-19 public health requirements before boarding the Surabaya-Pontianak flight, she pointed out, adding that based on information from the authorities, the passenger had undergone a swab test and was awaiting the test result.
In connection with this case, Citilink is continuing to communicate with concerned agencies, including the Port Health Office and the regional government, to obtain accurate and latest information, Kusandarina noted.
Kusandarina further claimed that Citilink has been acting in accordance with the Transportation Ministry's regulation on COVID-19 pandemic prevention and mitigation by ensuring that its passengers hold the mandated health documents before boarding aircraft.
As a preventive measure against the novel coronavirus disease, the Citilink management is disinfecting its aircraft fleet on a daily basis shortly after the aircraft finish daily services, she informed. (INE)
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EDITED BY INE
Translator: Andilala, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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