Special envoy to Beijing
Among the nearly 7 million Covid patients worldwide, Sita Tyasutami was the first to learn of her diagnosis from the news. Better still, it was Indonesian President Joko Widodo himself who delivered the verdict. It is noon this Monday, March 2, and the 31-year-old dance teacher with jet black hair, is resting in a hospital in Jakarta, alongside his mother Maria Darmaningsih, following fevers and severe nausea. On the screen, the leader with the false airs of Barack Obama delivers a shattering news after weeks of denial: the first two cases of coronavirus have just been identified among the 267 million Indonesians. "Jokowi", as we call it, does not reveal the names of the patients, but the age and description coincide exactly with the profiles of Sita and Maria.
Read also: Covid-19: in Indonesia, a dancer in the heart of the storm
Surprised, they inquired of the nurses, also in the fog. In a few minutes, the phones are buzzing with alarmed messages.
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