Jakarta. The Indonesian government announced on Tuesday eight more novel coronavirus cases have been confirmed, bringing the total number to 27 of mostly domestic transmission cases.

The new eight patients included six women and two men aged between 24 and 73, Achmad Yurianto, a spokesman for the government's handling of coronavirus outbreak, told a press conference in Jakarta.

Among them are two foreigners, but Yurianto declined to reveal their nationality.

He said without elaborating that five of the new patients had been infected in foreign countries.

The latest cases included two elderly women aged 70 and 73.
 
The 73-year-old woman, known as Patient 23, was the oldest among other patients and had to be treated using a ventilator, he said.

"Her case is the imported one. She is supported by a ventilator because she already had comorbid diseases,” Yurianto said.

Of the total 27 patients tested positive for Covid-19 – the formal name of the novel coronavirus – four are foreigners and at least eight were infected when they were in foreign countries, according to the government data.

In one case, a 59-year-old woman got the virus when she was travelling abroad and infected her 56-year-old husband several days after she arrived home. The couple were identified as Patient 7 and Patient 8.

Yurianto also said two of the 27 patients, namely Patient 6 and Patient 14, have tested negative for Covid-19 in the latest laboratory tests of their specimens, but further tests are needed to confirm if they are free of the virus and can be discharged from the quarantine. 

Patient 6 is a crew member of coronavirus-hit Diamond Princess cruise ship who is now being quarantined on Sebaru Island along with 68 colleagues.

Patient 14 is a 50-year-old man who came to the hospital with symptoms he worried would lead to coronavirus. After being treated for three days, the test was negative. 

But Yurianto said self-imposed isolation for another two weeks is required when both men are allowed to be discharged.

The first known local transmission cases were linked to the Feb. 14 dance party at a café in South Jakarta attended by a Japanese national who was later identified as Patient 24 in Malaysia. 

A woman who hosted the party and her mother were the first patients to test positive for coronavirus in Indonesia. 

The Japanese is believed to be the source of the virus that infected at least five people in the first week after the two women were confirmed of having the virus.