The Spike In COVID-19 Is Not Only Due To The Spread Of Omicron, But Also An Increase In Testing

COVID-19 Illustration/Photo: PIXBAY

JAKARTA - The trend of adding daily cases of COVID-19 is currently increasing. In the past week, active cases of COVID-19 have tripled compared to the previous week. As of February 1, there were 81,349 active cases.

The positivity rate throughout Indonesia this week also rose to 3.65 percent. The spike in case records was indeed caused by the spread of the Omicron variant. However, that's not the only reason.

Director of Prevention and Control of Directly Infectious Diseases of the Ministry of Health (Kemenkes) Siti Nadia Tarmizi explained that the spike in COVID-19 was also influenced by the increase in the number of COVID-19 examinations or testing.

"It is true that there has been an increase in the positivity rate in the past week. This is not only in line with the increase in confirmed cases, but also in line with the increase in the number of testing and tracing," said Nadia in a statement, Wednesday, February 2.

Nadia said, the number of people who were tested weekly as of January 30 was 5.75 per 1,000 population per week. This means that this figure is far above the WHO recommendation of 1 per 1,000 population per week.

The increase in the quota for testing and tracing, continued Nadia, is a form of early detection efforts in preventing the expansion of transmission, as well as preventing the emergence of new distribution clusters.

"This is also an effort to detect early symptoms of COVID-19 suffered by each individual. This is important to prevent delays in handling cases considering the Omicron variant which has a faster spread but tends to be asymptomatic," he explained.

Nationally, the total bed occupancy rate (BOR) for COVID-19 treatment currently stands at 78,825 and has been filled by 12.30 percent as of January 31.

Anticipating the continued increase in COVID-19 patients in Indonesia, Nadia revealed that the government had prepared to increase the capacity of COVID-19 beds.

"BOR can be increased up to a maximum capacity of 156,847 beds. Under the conditions needed, BOR in Jakarta can be conditioned to reach 21,000. So, don't worry too much, the capacity is still quite a lot," he added.