TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo on Tuesday went on Instagram to convey his deepest condolences for the deaths of each and every health worker in the frontline battle to contain the coronavirus (COVID-19).

The president’s condolences came after news of the death of Ari Puspita, a pregnant nurse of the Royal Surabaya Hospital who died as she was treated as a patient under monitoring (PDP).

“I am deeply grieved by the passing of Ari, along with the doctors and other medical workers that have perished due to the virus in the front line of this COVID-19 pandemic,” President Jokowi wrote in his latest Instagram post.

The Royal Surabaya Hospital nurse’s death came as a shock to coworkers and hospital management as records show she did not handle the hospital’s COVID-19 patients, which was corroborated by the hospital’s spokesperson Dewa Nyoman Sutanaya.

Sutanaya stated that hospital management does not know for certain how Ari transmitted the virus and maintains that she was not assigned to handle coronavirus patients as she was pregnant.

“There are many possibilities on how she transmitted the virus. It could be from where she lives, it could be the risk posed from the work environment, but we cannot assume yet. We will hand the COVID-19 tracing to the government's health agency,” said the spokesperson on Monday.

DEWI NURITA