VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Indonesian President Joko Widodo arrived in Cheongsam, a red traditional Chinese ethnic attire, for the 2020 national Chinese New Year celebration held at the Indonesian Convention Exhibition (ICE) Hall, BSD area, here on Thursday.

Jokowi was accompanied by several ministers, who also chose to wear Cheongsam.

The president was greeted enthusiastically and entertained with lion dance attractions while visiting a "China Town" exhibition held at the hall.

Jokowi offered "angpao," money as gifts, to the lion dancers and toured the expo.

He also made a stopover at a booth of his youngest son, Kaesang, who sold fried bananas, fried chicken, and coffee.

The organizing committee for the event also offered free Chinese delicacy to visitors during the celebration. (ANTARA)

The North Toraja tourism office has accepted the halal tourism concept for 300 tourist attractions in the district located in South Sulawesi, as part of its support to the Wonderful Indonesia tourism promotion.

North Toraja had some 300 tourist attractions, including 17 major ones, such as Kete 'Kesu, Londa, Kalimbong Bori', Saddang Barana, and Pallawa, Head of the North Toraja Culture and Tourism Office Harly Pariatno stated here on Thursday.

One of the most visited attractions by foreign and domestic tourists is Kete 'Kesu, a traditional house area of Tongkonan and the stone cemetery.

The local administration will set up places of worship for visiting Muslims.

Chairperson of the Kete 'Kesu Foundation Layuk Sarungallo, concurrently the local customary leader, confirmed about the local administration's policy.

Sarungallo noted that although most Toraja people are Christians, the bulk of visitors to Kete 'Kesu are Muslims.

Earlier, there was a small mosque, but currently, the government is building a mosque for Muslim tourists.

By supporting the central government's halal tourism programs, North Toraja is optimistic of more tourists visiting. (ANTARA) 

Indonesia is still discussing options for evacuating its citizens, currently in Wuhan city, as the novel coronavirus has killed some 170 people and infected 7,711 others in China and at least 15 other countries.

"I had conveyed yesterday that we had an option to evacuate our citizens but there are procedures for doing so," President Joko Widodo said after speaking at the opening session of a national coordinating meeting on research and technology in Tangerang, Banten Province, on Thursday. The government would discuss necessary measures that need to be taken after the evacuation option was finalized at an internal meeting of the Indonesia Onward Cabinet, he said.

Regarding this, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) said he had asked Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi on Thursday morning to begin exploring regulations and procedures for evacuating the Indonesian citizens from Wuhan and other cities in Hubei Province.

The government noted that there are 243 Indonesians currently living in Hubei Province but this figure is subject to change because the Indonesian Embassy in Beijing keeps updating the data and documents of the Indonesian citizens to ensure that none of them is left behind.

The government would discuss the stages of the evacuation process and decide a quarantine site for the evacuees later, President Jokowi further said.

Apart from that, the Indonesian military (TNI) would be involved in the evacuation process, and a TNI health team for the evacuation mission is ready. But, the stages of evacuation would be conducted as per China's regulations.

The government's plan to evacuate all Indonesians from Wuhan and other cities in Hubei Province has been enthusiastically welcomed.

An Indonesian student from South Sulawesi Province currently stranded in Wuhan enthusiastically welcomed the government's plan to evacuate Indonesian citizens from this China's epicenter of deadly new coronavirus outbreak.

"We are thankful and hopeful for the planned evacuation being prepared by the government," Patmawaty Taibe, who is taking up PhD in a Psychology Program at the Central China Normal University in Wuhan, said Thursday.

She follows the Indonesian media reports on the government's concerns for the fate of its citizens in Wuhan, which is under lockdown to halt the spread of the virus which has killed at least 132 people in China, she said.

The Indonesian Government has been making all preparations for conducting an immediate and proper evacuation mission while waiting for permission from the Chinese authorities.

"We are so happy to hear the news. May almighty God make all efforts to see the plan put in place," said Taibe, a teaching staff of the Bosowa University in Makassar, South Sulawesi Province, in her WhatsApp message.

Chinese authorities declared the first case of coronavirus after a person with pneumonia was hospitalized in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China, according to an official statement of the WHO.

Over the past weeks, people, with symptoms of pneumonia and reported travel history to Wuhan, had been identified at international airports. (ANTARA)

The Hasan Sadikin Hospital (RSHS) in Bandung, West Java, confirmed that the two patients undergoing treatment in its isolation rooms had not contracted the Wuhan coronavirus.

President Director of RSHS Nina Susana Dewi stated here on Thursday that the hospital had received the result of the laboratory check on samples of the two patients conducted by the Research and Development Agency of the Health Ministry.

"Officially, the RSHS has received the result of the checkup conducted on HG (a Chinese national) and HA (a resident of Bandung) that showed they tested negative for the disease," she revealed.

HG has already receive hospital discharge, as his condition improved. HG was suffering from acute upper respiratory tract infection.

"We have to be prudent to announce the result of the test. Mr HG has been discharged from the hospital after his condition improved," Dewi stated.

Meanwhile, Yovita Hartantri, head of the hospital's special infection team, noted that another patient HA had yet to be released from the hospital and is under medical observation, although he had not contracted coronavirus.

"He is in stable condition, with no fever, and there is noticeable improvement in the thorax x-ray. However, he still requires to undergo medical treatment in the isolation room," Hartantri stated.

A Chinese national, identified by his initials as HG, 35, had exhibited symptoms of influenza and acute upper respiratory tract infection. The patient was referred from the Cahya Kawaluyaan Hospital in Padalarang District, West Java.

HG was placed in an isolated room, as he had earlier paid a visit to China. The city in China that he had visited is some 1,300 kilometers away from Wuhan, the ground zero of the outbreak.

Another patient HA, 24, is a Bandung resident symptomatic with acute lower respiratory tract infection. HA had visited Singapore recently.

As of Thursday, coronavirus had claimed the lives of 170 people in China. At least 18 countries that reported the case comprise Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Singapore, Australia, the United States, Cambodia, Nepal, Canada, Sri Lanka, France, Vietnam, Germany, the United Arab Emirates, and Finland. (ANTARA)

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