Nurse Suspended After Stripping Off PPE To Have Sex With COVID-19 Patient
A nurse in Indonesia has reportedly been suspended after admitting that he removed his personal protective equipment to have sex with a coronavirus patient.
The two men were said to have snuck off to a toilet in a hospital for the rendezvous, which only came to light after the patient boasted about it on his now-private Twitter account on Friday.
He reportedly uploaded what he said was a screenshot of flirty WhatsApp messages between the pair that included detailed discussions of lubricants and the size of the men's genitals.
The man also posted an image of what appeared to be the nurse's PPE lying on the floor during their meeting.
'It is true that there has been a suspected incident of a same-sex relationship between a health worker and a COVID-19 patient at the Wisma Atlet Emergency Hospital,' Asep Gunawan of Indonesia's National Nurses Association said.
The Indonesia Expat reported that both of the men have been identified and admitted to the sexual encounter.
The nurse, who tested negative for Covid-19, has been handed over to the police for 'legal proceedings'. The patient is isolating at the hospital as he is still positive for the virus.
'This case has been transferred to the Central Jakarta Police. We have secured the health worker to become a witness and asked for further information,' the New York Post reported Lt. Col. Arh Herwin of the Regional Military Command as saying.
'Meanwhile, the patient continues to undergo isolation at the Athlete's House,' he added, referring to a former Asian Games athletes accommodation village that was transformed into a coronavirus hospital.
If convicted, the men face prison sentences of up to 10 years in prison under Indonesia's Pornography Law.
Human Rights Watch has accused Indonesian authorities of deliberately using the law to target LGBTQ+ people in the conservative Islamic country.
While homosexuality has never been criminalized in Indonesia, there are no laws explicitly protecting the rights of LGBTQ+ people either, leaving them vulnerable to persecution.
The nurse and patient could be prosecuted under the Pornography Law because of the posts shared on Twitter.
Indonesia has seen a rise in coronavirus cases, recording 7,903 new infections on Thursday, adding to a total of 727,000.
Meanwhile, 251 deaths were recorded on Thursday in the country where 21,703 people have died from Covid-19 since the pandemic began.
