Jakarta – Eighteen members of an extended family in Yogyakarta have tested positive for COVID-19.
The Yogyakarta Health Agency and COVID-19 task force discovered the new cases using contact tracing after the head of the family died of the disease earlier this month.
"Twenty-one members of the family live in the same house; 18 were found to have the coronavirus after taking swab tests. One of them had died of COVID-19 and another of cardiovascular disease – but the latter had not been given a swab test," Yogyakarta COVID-19 task force head Heroe Poerwadi said on Thursday as quoted by kompas.com.
He explained that the head of the family used to regularly drive his wife to work at Beringharjo market, a popular tourist destination and where she sold meal packages.
"We plan to conduct screenings at Beringharjo market, but first, we have to contract trace [the wife] and identify which block she usually worked at," Heroe said, adding that the market had six blocks.
Despite the 18 new cases, the city administration has no plan to temporarily shut down the market just yet.
"At the moment, we don't consider [the 18 new cases] a family cluster. It is just one family, and we have not received further information on who was the carrier," Heroe said.
As of Thursday, Yogyakarta has recorded 4,399 COVID-19 cases, including 3,568 recoveries and 108 fatalities.
In Central Java, a newlywed and her parents died of COVID-19. The 28-year-old bride, identified as LD, was a resident of Wonorejo village in Kalijambe district.
LD had reported traveled to her hometown from Jakarta two days prior to her wedding, which was on Oct. 24.
Upon arriving home, LD said she felt sick and decided to go to a doctor. She was told to check into a hospital for inpatient care but she reportedly refused because she was about the be married.
LD went ahead with her wedding and was even about to have a second reception in her husband's hometown in Wonogiri regency on Oct. 26.
During the trip to Wonogiri, LD felt ill once again and was immediately taken to Dr. Moewardi Regional General Hospital (RSUD) in Surakarta. The hospital declared LD positive with COVID-19 and ordered her to be treated at the facility. However, she died on Nov. 5.
Wonorejo village head Edi Subagyo said LD also had asthma.
One day after LD's death, her mother, S, was taken to a hospital, where she was declared positive for the coronavirus. S died on Nov. 6; she was 57.
Local authorities then tested S' husband and LD's father, SD, and rushed the 60-year-old to Dr. Soeratno Gembong Regional General Hospital (RSUD) for further treatment.
SD died on Nov. 9 after being declared positive for COVID-19. SD and S were reportedly both diabetics.
As of Thursday, Central Java has recorded 39,788 COVID-19 cases, including 31,955 recoveries and 1,918 fatalities. (nkn)