Getting Crazier, COVID-19 Cases Soared 40-fold In The Last Month

JAKARTA - Spokesperson for the COVID-19 Task Force, Wiku Adisasmito, revealed that there was a sharp increase in the number of COVID-19 cases, up to 40 times over the past month.

Early last January, weekly positive cases still increased slowly from 1,400 cases, then 3,000 cases the following week, then 5,400 cases, 14 thousand cases, until this week cases experienced a spike to 56 thousand cases in one week.

"Currently, positive cases of COVID-19 are increasing. The increase is quite sharp and in a short time, it is quite large and many times. This number has increased 40 times compared to early January", said Wiku in a virtual press conference, Wednesday, 2 January.

In fact, said Wiku, as of February 1, the daily cases had reached 16,021 cases. Meanwhile, today the cases increased by 17,859 cases. This figure is higher than the daily addition in the first wave of December 2020.

Wiku said that this increase in cases made the daily positivity rate of antigen and PCR examinations to have reached 6 or was above the WHO standard.

"Previously, our daily positivity rate was consistently at 0 to 2. Of course, this increase in audit cases should be a warning for all of us to reflect on our discipline towards health protocols", he explained.

The increase in BOR (bed occupancy) is also starting to be seen along with the increase in cases. On average, the BOR of referral hospitals at the national level is 13.89 percent with DKI Jakarta as the highest contributor, above 50 percent.

The good news is that a very high increase in positive cases has not been followed by an equally high increase in deaths.

Wiku said, although the number of deaths increased 14 times compared to January 1, the number was still far lower than the number of deaths in the first wave at the end of 2020.

"With the same number of positive cases, in fact, the daily deaths currently amount to 28 deaths. While in the first wave and then the deaths reached more than 300 people in 1 day", said Wiku.

"But I always emphasize that even one death counts as life. The increasing number of deaths is a reminder that although most patients are relatively recoverable, this virus is still a threat to vulnerable groups such as the elderly and patients with comorbidities", he added.