COVID-19 Cases In South Sumatra Are Increasing Again

PALEMBANG - Daily confirmed cases of COVID-19 in South Sumatra have increased again after the last few weeks have shown a decline. The local government is reminded to optimize handling.

Epidemiologist as well as the South Sumatra COVID-19 Expert Team, Dr. Iche Andriany Liberty said the previous daily positive cases decreased during February 2021. However, in recent days there have been significant additions above 100 cases per day.

"The positive rate is still in the range of 28 percent, meaning that the transmission of COVID-19 is still happening", he said as quoted by Antara, Friday, April 2.

Data on COVID-19 from the South Sumatra Health Office as of April 1 recorded that the total number of positive confirmed cases reached 17.860 with a cure rate of 15.631 people (87.52 percent) and a death rate of 849 people (4.75 percent).

The daily case chart also records cases of over 100 people, the last time it occurred was on January 26, then daily new cases were around 50 cases per day and the graph shows a stagnation decline as the vaccination program progresses.

However, since March 25, daily cases have tended to increase and returned to touch 100 cases per day.

Dr. Iche said that there is a possibility that new clusters will emerge which will make cases in South Sumatra increase again.

The increase could have continued if the provincial government and the government in 17 districts/cities did not optimize the supervision of health protocols and 3T efforts, especially in the run-up to the moments of Ramadan and Eid Al-Fitr.

"People who return to their hometowns must be sure not to carry COVID-19, so supervision needs to be increased", continued Iche.

Increased surveillance is also to anticipate the spread of the B117 mutation, which was previously reported to have been found in the South Sumatra region and is thought to have spread more quickly.

Dr. Iche asked the public to continue to pay attention to health protocols to prevent COVID-19 from mutating into other mutations. Because the vaccine program in South Sumatra has not been able to establish environmental immunity as expected.