[2] On 12 January 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed that a novel coronavirus was the cause of a respiratory illness in a cluster of people in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China, which was reported to the WHO on 31 December 2019.
[7][5] The provincial government took measures such as spraying disinfectant on public spaces in late March.
[8] On 27 March, Ali Baal Masdar, governor of West Sulawesi implemented semi-lockdown, closing public spaces, and movement restriction from outside of the province to prevent the spread of the virus.
The province was struck by 2021 West Sulawesi earthquake on 16 January 2021, which destroyed much of healthcare infrastructures and government buildings.
As the result, the pandemic that previously relatively-contained start to worsen as many positive cases were found in refugee sites.