DIY Provincial Government: Deaths Of COVID-19 Patients Up 6 Times During July

YOGYAKARTA - The Government of the Special Region of Yogyakarta recorded the number of deaths from COVID-19 patients in this province reached 3,122 cases during July 2021 or six times compared to the previous month which recorded 525 cases.

DIY Regional Secretary, Kadarmanta Baskara Aji, at the Kepatihan Complex, Yogyakarta, said that based on data on the handling of corpses of COVID-19 patients during July 2021 an average of 101 cases per day.

"The highest increase occurred in July with an almost six-fold increase from 525 cases in June", said the Regional Secretary as quoted by Antara, Tuesday, August 3.

Based on the pick-up location, according to him, the bodies of COVID-19 patients at the referral hospital reached 2,034 in July or also experienced a six-fold increase compared to June.

Meanwhile, the collection of corpses from funeral homes for self-isolation patients increased 19 times, from 42 in June to 781 in July.

"This death was contributed by two sources, the first is those who are already in the hospital and the second is self-isolation. Most of the trips from home to hospital die, that's part of self-isolation", said Aji.

Therefore, to suppress death cases, according to Aji, the Yogyakarta Regional Government has asked all COVID-19 patients with symptoms to isolate themselves in a centralized shelter so that they receive intensive supervision by health workers.

"If he is in centralized isolation, his illness worsens, the health care provider for centralized isolation recommends him to the hospital", he said.

In addition, the DIY Regional Government has also recruited 100 health workers whose special duty is to go to the field to monitor people without symptoms (OTG) who choose to self-isolate at home.

"They will visit homes or do telemedicine so they can monitor the presence or condition of a self-isolation so that it is not too late to handle it. If there is a decrease in saturation, it can be immediately handled by friends in the field", he said.

Meanwhile, the Deputy Commander of the DIY Regional Disaster Management Agency of Rapid Response Team (TRC), Indrayanto, suggested that all residents who were confirmed positive for COVID-19, both symptomatic and asymptomatic, underwent centralized isolation in shelters provided by the regional government.

He suspects that the high mortality rate for self-isolation patients is due to minimal access to health services at home.

"We propose that all self-isolation patients enter the shelter to get proper health services. In the health care shelter, vitamin control, nutrition, food, and activities that help patients psychologically can be well scheduled", said Indrayanto.