The PCR (polymerase chain reaction) test conducted on Saturday (Aug 15) on four infected Secapa cadets came negative (for COVID-19)
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Indonesian Army Chief of Staff Gen. Andika Perkasa announced that all cadets at the Army's Officer Candidate School (Secapa) had fully recovered from the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

"The PCR (polymerase chain reaction) test conducted on Saturday (Aug 15) on four infected Secapa cadets came negative (for COVID-19)," Perkasa noted in a statement here on Saturday.

This translates to the fact that all infected Secapa cadets have recovered from the disease, he asserted.

"Of the total 1,308 Secapa cadets tested positive, today, no other positive case was reported," he added.

As many as 1,308 cadets of Secapa in West Java's capital of Bandung had tested positive for coronavirus during swab testing at the facility. The military academy was then declared a new COVID-19 cluster in the province

All cadets were placed in quarantine and received treatment at a hospital. The authority has also conducted convalescent plasma therapy using plasma collected from recovered patients.

The therapy uses convalescent plasma collected from previously infected individuals to passively transfer antibodies in order to protect or treat humans from the same infectious disease, including SARS-CoV-2.

Perkasa had stated in July this year that in order to expedite the handling of COVID-19 cases, the army had collaborated with the Airlangga University for COVID-19 medicines.

On July 16, 2020, the second PCR laboratory at the Sariningsih Army Hospital in Bandung also became operational to expedite the process of examining swab test specimens.

The laboratory is a part of the 68 PCR laboratory facilities available at 68 army hospitals throughout Indonesia.

To support the government's efforts in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, the Indonesian Army has also striven to provide stocks of medical equipment and pushed the clinical trials of the combined COVID-19 medicine at army hospitals, he remarked.
Related news: 1,244 Secapa cadets recover from COVID-19: Army spokesperson

Related news: 1,244 Secapa cadets recover from COVID-19: Army spokesperson

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Translator: Zuhdiar Laeis, Sri Haryati
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