Palembang City Out Of Red Zone Status COVID-19

PALEMBANG - The city of Palembang, South Sumatra, has moved out of the red zone status that has occurred since mid-April 2021 to become an orange zone after a decline in COVID-19 cases.

Head of the South Sumatra Provincial Health Office, Lesty Nurainy, said the decline in COVID-19 cases had affected the hospital occupancy rate, which currently stands at 44 percent.

"For now, COVID-19 cases have decreased, bed occupancy ratio (BOR) has also decreased", said Lesty, quoted by Antara, Thursday, August 19.

He added that the decline in COVID-19 cases in South Sumatra was due to the effect of the implementation of Community Activity Restrictions (PPKM) as well as the reduction of community mobility and the application of strict health protocols.

"This is a good thing and hopefully people will be more obedient to the health protocol", she said.

Cases of COVID-19 in South Sumatra are starting to gradually decline. As of August 17, 2021, there were 117 additional cases in South Sumatra, bringing the current total to 55,545 cases.

In fact, for the red zone status which previously existed in 13 regions out of 17 regencies/cities throughout South Sumatra, there are only three regencies that still have red zone status, namely Banyuasin Regency, OKU Regency, and Musi Rawas Regency.

Meanwhile, 12 other regencies/cities have orange zone status and two others have yellow zone status.

Meanwhile, Palembang City, which has been in the red zone for the past few months, has now dropped to the orange zone.