Happy Hypoxia Appears In Bengkayang West Kalimantan, Patient Laughing Suddenly Shortness Of Breath Dies

PONTIANAK - The Head of the Health and Family Planning Office of Bengkayang Regency, West Kalimantan, I Made Putra Negara, said that a new symptom of COVID-19, namely "happy hypoxia" or a decrease in blood oxygen levels, had been found in his area.

"This condition causes a person to experience breathing problems in the form of shortness of breath or dyspnea. This case already exists in Bengkayang. I convey that the public should always be disciplined in implementing health protocols, and want to support government programs in making vaccinations successful", he said, quoted from Antara, Thursday, July 8th.

He said that in early July 2021, COVID-19 cases in Bengkayang had slightly increased, but in the last two days there was a decline. Currently Bengkayang is still in the orange zone.

According to him, the death rate is creeping up, and there are cases of sudden deaths.

"In this case, people can walk around, they can laugh, suddenly short of breath and die. That is known as 'happy hypoxia'. There has been a case in Bengkayang. We are also saddened that one of the heads of the public health center in Bengkayang died, who also sudden tightness", he said.

However, he emphasized that those who died with confirmed COVID-19 status also had a history of co-morbidities, as well as advanced age.

"Most who have a history of heart disease and diabetes, on average like that", he said.

Made ensured that the implementation of the COVID-19 vaccination for the general public continued to be carried out every day on a regular basis, in every public health center in all sub-districts in Bengkayang Regency.

The Regency Government together with the TNI-Police continues to mobilize people to want to be vaccinated in the success of the government's program to vaccinate.

He hopes that later the program can achieve the targets and those given by the central government in order to establish good herd immunity for the community, as well as stop the spread of COVID-19 cases.

"Although currently it is still being carried out in stages, we will definitely continue to strive so that we can achieve the target of establishing herd immunity", he said.

Made also explained the current conditions related to the readiness of the Bengkayang Regency COVID-19 Task Force in dealing with the COVID-19 surge, including the new variant. The district government has also added an isolation room at the Bumi Sebalo Hospital Bengkayang, which was originally four rooms to 11 rooms.

Meanwhile, the availability of oxygen at Bengkayang Hospital is still under control, with the need for 20 oxygen cylinders per day. However, his party has allocated a budget for the procurement of oxygen generators, which are useful for oxygen-making machines.

"Then we have also prepared 200 spare oxygen cylinders for the needs of handling COVID-19 in Bengkayang Regency. Hopefully with this preparation we can anticipate the possibility of a huge spike like the one feared", said I Made Putra Negara.