Epidemiologist COVID-19 Death Rate Indicative Of Health System Weak Points

Illustration/Photo: Antara

JAKARTA - Epidemiologist from Australia's Griffith University Dicky Budiman said that the case of deaths from COVID-19 is an indication of weak points in the health system. " said Dicky in the Dialogue of the Indonesian Doctors Association (IDI) Forum which was followed via YouTube IDI from Jakarta, Monday, February 21. "We need to remember that one death case is a contribution from many infection cases in the community. in one case of death. For Omicron it could be even more," he said. According to Dicky, one case of death from COVID-19 indicates a delay in early detection of disease transmission during an outbreak. He conveyed that there were limitations in the efforts made by the government to early detection of cases of COVID-19 transmission, including the limitations of the ability to carry out examinations which, among other things, are influenced by the number of people infected with the corona virus but do not experience symptoms of illness. People who are infected with SARS-CoV-2 but do not experience symptoms of illness can be missed from the examination so they are not recorded as COVID-19 sufferers and are at risk of transmitting the virus to others. others. "So that there are currently more cases (than recorded). In the level assessment by the World Health Organization, what the government has actually found is much smaller than what is in the community," said Dicky. The results of Dicky and his team's research show the number of COVID-19 cases is ten times more than the government's findings in the second wave of COVID-19 transmission, when the number of cases increased due to transmission of the Delta variant of the corona virus in July to August 2021. Dicky estimated the number of cases in the third wave of COVID-19 transmission, when the number of cases increased due to corona virus transmission. There are also more Omicron variants than recorded. "That should serve as a reminder for us to observe the development of the data," he said. He said that the number of cases of infection and death due to COVID-19 is an important input in policy making regarding control and prevention of the disease.