The Task Force Does Not Want To Progress Indonesia's COVID-19 Test Compared To Other Countries

JAKARTA - Chairman of the Expert Team for the Task Force for the Acceleration of Handling COVID-19, Wiku Adisasmito, stated that the public cannot conclude that the number of COVID-19 testing tests in Indonesia is still very small, only by comparing progress in other countries.

Wiku said, people should know that Indonesia is a country with the fourth largest population in the world. Moreover, Indonesia is an archipelagic country that has been a developing country so far. The status of a developed country that has been crowned Indonesia has also recently been pinned.

"It cannot be automatically compared to other countries, which may also be economically higher with a lower population," Wiku said in a press conference at Graha BNPB, East Jakarta, Tuesday, May 5.

The government has a target in one day to be able to check 10,000 real time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests of saliva specimens (swabs) to detect the corona virus. However, until now Indonesia has only been able to inspect 6-7 thousand specimens per day.

Even so, continued Wiku, the government continues to strive to increase the number of investigations for COVID-19 cases. This is done by preparing a biosafety level 2 (BSL) laboratory.

Apart from equipment, the government has also increased the number of sufficient human resources (HR), with a minimum number of two times the existing equipment in the laboratory. This is because the large number of human resources will minimize fatigue.

"So, with other human resource back-ups, more operations can be made and the health workers or laboratory assistants are not exhausted. Because, it is very dangerous if laboratory assistants are forced to work continuously, later they will get sick because their immunity will decrease," he said. "explained Wiku.

For information, a number of non-governmental organizations such as the Amrta Institute, Lokataru Foundation, YLBHI, LBH Jakarta, Rujak Center for Urban Studies and the Urban Poor Consortium released research results that the percentage of COVID-19 testing conducted by Indonesia is very small.

This is evident when compared to a number of countries where the most victims of COVID-19. The percentage in question is the comparison of the tests carried out with the population in a country.

Director of the Amrta Institute, Nila Ardhianie, explained that countries such as Germany, Italy and Spain have tested 3 percent of the population.

Then, the United States and Russia conducted tests on 2 percent of the population. Singapore and Brunei Darussalam have tested as much as 3 percent.

"Meanwhile, the test in Indonesia has not reached 0.1 percent. This shows that the percentage of testing in Indonesia is very small," said Nila.

In fact, according to Nila, Indonesia should be able to increase the number of tests until it is adequate. This is because it is urgently needed to produce accurate estimates so as to produce appropriate government policy responses.

"It is feared that the low number of tests will result in a lower estimate of what actually happened. In the end, it will result in an inappropriate policy response," he said.