Bali coronavirus warning: Holiday island health chiefs admit they CAN'T test for the killer illness

  • Bali tourists who fear they may have coronavirus cannot be tested on the island
  • Chief health officer Ketut Suarjaya said tests are sent to Jakarata, Indonesia 
  • There are currently no testing laboratories to test for the virus in Bali
  • Mr Suarjaya urged tourists not to panic as results come back within two days 

Doctors in Bali will not be able to test tourists for the deadly coronavirus, the island's top health official has admitted.

Chief health officer Ketut Suarjaya said tourists who fear they have coronavirus would have their samples sent to a laboratory in the capital Jakarta as there are none in Bali. 

'Due to it being a new virus we do not have the ability yet to detect it,' he said according to Nine News

Tourists in Bali Ngurah Rai International Airport in Kuta wearing face masks on February 4

Tourists in Bali Ngurah Rai International Airport in Kuta wearing face masks on February 4

Despite the health risks and fears over coronvirus, Mr Suarjaya said tourists to Bali shouldn't stress about the illness.

'I urge the public to not panic and not be afraid because panic and fear is more dangerous than the coronavirus,' he continued.

A total of 35 samples from locals and foreigners from Japan, Russia, Denmark, Slovakia and the UK have been sent from Bali to Jakarta to be tested.

Twelve of those are still waiting for confirmation they have not contracted the virus. 

No one in Bali has yet tested positive for coronavirus, but two people in Jakarta - a mother and a daughter - have caught the illness.

With only nine fully equipped isolation centres available, Mr Suarjaya did not rule out dedicating an entire hospital to treating infected patients. 

Tourists in Bali are urged not to panic as results for the coronavirus are back within two days (Pictured: Tourists in Bali)

Tourists in Bali are urged not to panic as results for the coronavirus are back within two days (Pictured: Tourists in Bali)

Passengers from China Southern Airlines flight CZ319 arrive at Perth International Airport on February 2. Western Australia's tourism minister Paul Papalia also warned Indonesia's health service was not as equipped as Australia's to deal with the coronavirus

Passengers from China Southern Airlines flight CZ319 arrive at Perth International Airport on February 2. Western Australia's tourism minister Paul Papalia also warned Indonesia's health service was not as equipped as Australia's to deal with the coronavirus

Australians have been urged to avoid going to Bali by a state official and holiday at home instead to help the local economy hit hard by the coronavirus travel ban. 

Western Australia's tourism minister Paul Papalia said even if only ten per cent of the 500,000 holidaymakers from the state who travel to Bali every year stayed at home, it would make up for the loss of Chinese tourists barred from coming Down Under.

'Right now the easiest thing we can do, the biggest thing we can do, is to get Western Australians to stop going to Bali,' Mr Papalia told The West Australian

The minister also referred to Prime Minister Scott Morrison expressing his doubt Indonesia was capable of testing its population properly for coronavirus.

'I'd be concerned right now ...that Indonesia doesn't have a good visibility of what their coronavirus threat is and how exposed anyone will be if they visit there,' Mr Papalia said.

'If you look around the world at the impact of this virus in advanced countries with good healthcare systems, your care is going to be better — that’s just fact.'

The WA state government has already committed to spend $4.85million on its domestic marketing program as the Australian tourism industry battles the effect of coronavirus' spread.  

CORONAVIRUS CASES IN AUSTRALIA CLIMB TO 63

NEW SOUTH WALES: 28

January 25 

Three men aged 43, 53, and 35 who had recently travelled to China contracted the disease.

Two flew in from Wuhan while the other arrived in Sydney from Shenzhen, south China.

They were treated in isolation at Westmead Hospital. 

January 27  

A 21-year-old woman is identified as the fourth person to test positive for the illness in NSW.

The woman, a student at UNSW, flew into Sydney International Airport on flight MU749 on January 23 and presented to the emergency department 24 hours later after developing flu-like symptoms.

March 1 

A man in his 40s is confirmed as the fifth coronavirus case in the state and a woman in her 50s as the sixth. Both returned to Sydney from Iran. 

March 2 

The 41-year-old sister of a man who had returned from Iran with the disease was one of three confirmed cases. The second locally-acquired case was a 53-year-old male health worker who hadn't travelled for many months.

The other new case is a 31-year-old man who flew into Sydney on Saturday from Iran and developed symptoms 24 hours later.

March 3

Six more cases are confirmed in NSW. They included a 39-year-old man who had flown in from Iran and a 53-year-old man who arrived from Singapore last Friday.

It also included two women aged in their 60s who arrived in Sydney from South Korea and Japan respectively.

A man in his 30s who returned from Malaysia to Sydney on Malindo Air flight OD171 on March 1 was also one of the six.

A 50-year-old carer was the final of the day's six people diagnosed with coronavirus. The woman is a carer at a nursing home in Macquarie Park in Sydney's north. She had not been overseas and contracted the virus in Australia. 

March 4

A 95-year-old woman died at a Sydney hospital on Wednesday night after developing a respiratory illness from the coronavirus, bringing the death toll to two.

A Macquarie University lecturer tested positive for coronavirus on Wednesday after returning from Iran. 

A further six cases confirmed on Wednesday evening. They included an 82-year-old aged care resident from the Dorothy Henderson Lodge, where the 95-year-old woman was staying.

The new cases include a female doctor who works at Liverpool hospital, a female patient from the Northern Beaches, a male from Cronulla, a woman who returned from the Phillippines and a woman in her 70s. 

March 5

A health care worker, who attended the same conference as the doctor from Ryde Hospital, also tests positive.

A boy from Epping Boys High School is diagnosed with COVID-19 forcing the school to temporarily close.

A Goulburn resident who had recently returned from Singapore and travelled on to Darwin was also diagnosed with the virus 

A fourth resident, aged 94, from the Dorothy Henderson Lodge aged care facility in Macquarie Park was also diagnosed

March 6

Two more workers at the Dorothy Henderson Lodge aged care centre are diagnosed with coronavirus 

 A 24-year-old female and 21-year-old male have now been confirmed as cases at the facility

An 18-year-old female has also been diagnosed

 VICTORIA: 10

January 25  

A Chinese national aged in his 50s becomes the first confirmed case of the coronavirus in Australia.

The man flew to Melbourne on China Southern flight CZ321 from Wuhan via Guangzhou on January 19.

He was quarantined at Monash Hospital in Clayton in Melbourne's east.

January 29   

A Victorian man in his 60s is diagnosed with the coronavirus.

He became unwell on January 23 - two days after returning from the Chinese city of Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak.

The man was confirmed as positive on January 29 and was subsequently seen by doctors at the Monash Medical Centre.

January 30 

 A woman in her 40s is found to have coronavirus.

She was visiting from China and mostly spent time with her family.

She is being treated at Royal Melbourne Hospital. 

February 1 

A woman in her 20s in Melbourne is found to have the virus. 

February 22

Two passengers taken off the Diamond Princess cruise ship test positive. 

February 25

Another passenger taken off the cruise ship tests positive. 

March 1

Victorian man confirmed to have coronavirus after the 78-year-old was evacuated to Melbourne from a Darwin quarantine centre.

It is confirmed a Victorian woman in her 30s has tested positive for coronavirus after flying from Malaysia to Melbourne via Indonesia.

March 4

Victorian man in his 30s confirmed to have coronavirus after returning from Iran. Health Minister Jenny Mikakos said the man was 'almost symptom-free' after self-isolating 

QUEENSLAND: 13

January 29

Queensland confirms its first case after a 44-year-old Chinese national was diagnosed with the virus. He is being treated at Gold Coast University Hospital.

January 30

A 42-year-old Chinese woman who was travelling in the same Wuhan tour group as the 44-year-old man tests positive. She is in Gold Coast University Hospital in stable condition.

February 4

An eight-year-old boy was diagnosed with coronavirus. He is also from the tour group where the other Queensland cases came from.

February 5

A 37-year-old man, who was a member of a group of nine Chinese tourists in quarantine on the Gold Coast, also tested positive.

February 6  

A 37-year-old woman was diagnosed with coronavirus from the same travel group that flew to Queensland from Melbourne on January 27.

February 21 

Two Queensland women, aged 54 and 55, tested positive for COVID-19 and will be flown to Brisbane for further treatment.

A 57-year-old woman from Queensland also tested positive for the virus.

February 28

A 63-year-old woman was confirmed to have the virus after returning to the Gold Coast from Iran.

March 3

A 20-year-old man from China was confirmed as the tenth person to be infected by the coronavirus in Queensland. The man had travelled to Dubai for at least 14 days before entering Australia, via Brisbane on February 23. 

March 4

A 26-year-old man from Logan in Brisbane is diagnosed with coronavirus. He arrived back in Australia from Iran.

March 5 

An 81-year-old man who had returned to Brisbane from Thailand and a 29-year-old woman who had come via Singapore from London are diagnosed with coronavirus.

SOUTH AUSTRALIA: 7

February 1  

A Chinese couple in their 60s who arrived in Adelaide from Wuhan to visit relatives are confirmed to have coronavirus.

A 24-year-old woman from South Australia was transferred to Royal Adelaide Hospital.

March 4

Mother, 40, is diagnosed after flying to Australia from Iran via Kuala Lumpur. 

Another 24-year-old woman, not related to the previous woman, was in a stable condition in Adelaide hospital after falling ill following overseas travel.

March 5

The eight-month-old child of the 40-year-woman, diagnosed on March 4, is also diagnosed with coronavirus.

Renowned Australian music composer Brett Dean, 58, who travelled to SA on March 3 from Taiwan also tests positive. He's receiving treatment in an Adelaide hospital.

WESTERN AUSTRALIA: 3

February 21 

A 78-year-old man from Western Australia was transferred to Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital in Perth. On February 28, he was taken into intensive care in a 'serious' condition and later died. His wife was also diagnosed with coronavirus.

March 1 

The elderly man died in the early hours of the morning from the virus at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital.

March 5

A woman in Perth is diagnosed with the virus after flying into the city from the UK, via Dubai 

TASMANIA: 1  

March 2

The man who travelled from Iran to Australia on Saturday tested positive for COVID-19.

NORTHERN TERRITORY: 1 

March 4

A tourist in Darwin has tested positive for coronavirus in what is the first confirmed case in the Northern Territory.

NT Health confirmed the 52-year-old man as the first case of COVID-19 in the community on Wednesday evening. 

The man recently arrived in Darwin via Sydney and has had limited contact with the local community, NT Health said in a statement. 

 

 

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Bali's health chiefs admit they can't test tourists for coronavirus

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