Even Though Cases Have Decreased, The COVID-19 Death Rate Is Still High

COVID-19 Cemetery/Photo: Antara

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Health noted that the death rate for COVID-19 cases was still high when the condition of daily cases began to decline since the peak of cases of the Omicron wave some time ago.

"The number of deaths still shows an increase, which is up around 16.78 percent compared to the previous week," said Secretary of the Directorate General of Public Health at the Ministry of Health Siti Nadia Tarmizi in a virtual press conference, Tuesday, March 8.

Nadia said the majority of deaths in COVID-19 cases were those who were exposed and had not vaccinated. Then, many case deaths also occur in the comorbid group.

"This is a concern for all of us where the highest mortality is in the group that has not received vaccinations," said Nadia.

Then, the bed occupancy ratio (BOR) for COVID-19 treatment in hospitals was recorded at 28.24 percent of the total capacity. This figure has greatly decreased compared to the time of the Delta wave in 2021.

Meanwhile, the daily confirmed cases showed a downward trend of 38.15 percent from the previous week. Then, this week's positivity rate reached 13.56 percent.

"Nevertheless, transmission is still occurring and we must continue to be vigilant until of course (the positivity rate) we lower it to a level below 5 percent," said Nadia.

It is known, as of March 7, 2022, there was an increase of 21,380 new positive cases. The total accumulated positive cases since COVID-19 was discovered in Indonesia reached 5,770,105 people and active cases fell by 27,678 to 448,283 cases.

Cases recovered on March 7 increased by 48,800 cases, bringing the total to 5,171,402 people recovered. Then, there were 258 positive confirmed cases and a total of 150,430 people.