Due To Religious Tourism After Lebaran, COVID-19 Cases In Kudus Rise 30 Times

JAKARTA - Spokesman for the COVID-19 Task Force, Wiku Adisasmito, explained the current state of the spike in cases in Kudus, Central Java. Cases of COVID-19 in Kudus in a week jumped 30 times.

"Kudus experienced a significant increase in positive cases in one week, which rose more than 30 times from 26 cases to 929 cases," Wiku said in a virtual press conference, Friday, June 4.

Currently, active cases in Kudus are 1,280 or 21 percent of the accumulated cases since the beginning. This is a fairly large number when compared to the national active cases of only 5.47 percent.

After the Head of the COVID-19 Task Force Ganip Warsito visited Kudus directly to find out the cause of the case some time ago, it was revealed that the spike in cases occurred due to religious tourism activities.

"This situation occurred as a result of the existence of religious tourism activities in the form of pilgrimages and the Kupatan tradition carried out by Kudus residents 7 days after Eid," explained Wiku.

This, he continued, triggers crowds and increases transmission in the community. The spike in cases is exacerbated by the large number of health workers currently exposed to COVID-19 as many as 189 people.

In addition, the occupancy of isolation room beds and referral ICU rooms in COVID-19 has increased sharply. As of June 1, more than 90 percent of all beds are occupied. "This is a very concerning condition," he said.

From this visit, Ganip Warsito instructed the Kudus Regency Government to immediately convert public beds into COVID patient services.

The instructions are that COVID-19 patients with moderate to severe symptoms are prioritized to be hospitalized and patients with mild symptoms are advised to self-isolate at their respective homes.

Wiku continued, what happened in Kudus could be a lesson for other regions. "We hope that the regional task force can anticipate the traditions and culture in their respective regions, so that they can immediately determine the best treatment and policies that can be taken so that cases do not increase sharply as in Kudus," he concluded.