COVID-19 Cases Outside Java-Bali Continues To Increase

COVID-19 Task Force Spokesperson Wiku Adisasmito (Photo: BNPB doc)

JAKARTA - Government Spokesperson for Handling COVID-19 Wiku Adisasmito asked the public to be vigilant amid the increasing number of COVID-19 cases outside the provinces in Java and Bali.

"I need to emphasize that at this time we need to be thorough because the data shows that there has been a shift in the trend of cases to provinces outside Java, Bali," Wiku said at the Press Conference on the Development of Handling COVID-19 in Indonesia, which was followed online in Jakarta, reported by Antara. , Tuesday, February 22.

He added, although nationally the cases of COVID-19 continued to increase, the increase in provinces outside Java and Bali was faster and more significant, thereby increasing the contribution to the number of national cases.

Wiku said weekly cases in the provinces outside Java-Bali at the end of January were only around 600 cases, while now it has increased to 95,000 cases.

"Weekly cases outside Java-Bali were only around 600 cases at the end of last January and now the number has risen sharply to 95,000 cases," he said.

This makes the contribution of cases from provinces outside Java-Bali increase to 24 percent of the total number of national cases.

"If initially outside Java-Bali only contributed 3-4 percent of the total national cases, now the number continues to rise to 24 percent of the total national cases," he said.

Wiku explained that the provinces that experienced the most weekly additions of cases in provinces outside Java and Bali were North Sumatra, South Sulawesi, and East Kalimantan.

"North Sumatra experienced an increase in cases of 12,000 cases in one week, followed by South Sulawesi and East Kalimantan with an increase of 10 thousand cases," he said.

Next is South Sumatra, North Sulawesi, Lampung, Papua, Riau, South Kalimantan and West Sumatra.

With this increase in the number of cases, Wiku asked all parties to be vigilant because the number of beds used in hospitals is also increasing.

"This needs to be our common vigilance, especially since the increase in cases in these provinces is also accompanied by an increase in deaths and bed usage rates or BOR, although not as high as in the last delta wave," he said.

Seeing the dynamics of existing cases, his party requested that the handling of COVID-19 cases be focused on provinces outside Java and Bali.