Indonesia Records Highest Weekly Covid-19 Cases Since Pandemic

JAKARTA - The Task Force for Handling COVID-19 stated that Indonesia recorded the highest increase in weekly cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic entered the country in March 2020.

"As of January 17, there was a 27.5 percent increase in cases compared to the previous week. This figure shows the highest increase during the pandemic in Indonesia," said Wiku Adisasmito, spokesman for the COVID-19 Task Force, quoted by Antara, Tuesday, January 19.

The increase occurred in the period 10-17 January 2021. The trend of positive cases weekly has increased for 12 consecutive weeks.

"In general, the increase occurs at 10-15 percent per week, thus this figure records a weekly positive case trend which has increased for 12 consecutive weeks," he said.

He said Indonesia had recorded an additional daily figure of 14,224 cases, namely Saturday (16/1).

"The increase in cases was contributed by the five regions with the highest increase, namely West Java, DKI Jakarta, Central Java, Bali and South Sulawesi," said Wiku.

According to data from the COVID-19 Task Force, West Java Province on January 12-17, 2021, increased by 4,929 cases, from 10,088 to 15,017 cases compared to the previous week, which only increased by 2,196 cases so that weekly cases in the area doubled.

Data on the increase in cases in other provinces, DKI Jakarta rose 4,364 (from 16,879 to 21,243 cases), Central Java increased by 3,986 (from 7,203 to 11,189 cases), Bali increased by 806 (from 1,254 to 2,060 cases), and South Sulawesi increased by 792 (from 3,731 to 4,523 cases).

"If we look further, the five provinces that contributed the most to the increase in cases were all from Java and Bali, except South Sulawesi. The increase in daily cases was very high and even the highest since the first COVID-19 cases entered Indonesia," he said.

The number of deaths due to COVID-19 has even increased by 37.4 percent.

"This is a development that is pointing in a bad direction. In the same week there was a record high daily death toll during the pandemic, namely 306 deaths in one day on January 13," said Wiku.

There are five provinces that recorded the highest number of deaths, namely Central Java up 209 (from 220 to 429), DKI Jakarta up 106 (from 159 to 253), West Java up 87 (from 41 to 128), DI Yogyakarta up 27 (from 37 to 64), and East Nusa Tenggara increased by 18 (from eight to 26).

"When compared with last week, DKI Jakarta and West Java will return to the five provinces with the highest death rates. This is a warning that should not be ignored," he said.

He said the cure rate had increased by 8.2 percent.

"However, this increase was smaller than the previous week at 9.5 percent. In fact, when compared with the increase in positive cases which reached 27.5 percent and death cases which reached 37.4 percent, the increase in recovered cases was not commensurate," he said. .

Today, the number of COVID-19 cases in Indonesia has increased by 10,365 people, bringing the total number of cases to 927,380. Patients who were declared cured increased by 8,013 people to 753,948 and 308 patients died, bringing a total of 26,590 people to death.