Task Force Reminds People To Beware Of The Trend Of Increasing COVID-19 Cases

Spokesperson for the COVID-19 Handling Task Force Wiku Adisasmito/ISTIMEWA

JAKARTA - Spokesperson for the COVID-19 Handling Task Force, Wiku Adisasmito, reminded the public to be aware of the re-increase in COVID-19 transmission, which now stands at 6,000 new cases per day.

"The number of COVID-19 cases has continued to set new records in recent weeks, after a long absence of an increase. The last number of cases in Indonesia reaching above 6,000 occurred in March 2022," said Wiku Adisasmito, quoted by ANTARA, Friday, July 29.

The increase occurred consistently, starting from 1,000 cases in early June, 2,000 cases in early July and within one month it tripled to 6,000 cases.

"Active cases are also increasing, we haven't had active cases for a long time, as many as 46,000 cases, the last time was in April and now it's happening again," he said.

In addition, the death rate has also increased in the last three days, always above ten deaths per day.

Wiku said an increase in positive, active cases and deaths was also reflected in the positive number, which is now above the World Health Organization (WHO) threshold of 5 percent. The positive number in Indonesia this week is in the range of 6 percent.

"This means that transmission still exists and occurs in the community with the pattern of increasing the number of cases. For this reason, the community must be aware of the increasing number of transmissions," he said.

Despite the increase in cases, Wiku said there was also other news where the number of people being examined had increased significantly compared to the beginning of July 2022.

"This increase should be appreciated, because it means that there is an increase in public awareness for COVID-19 tests when experiencing symptoms or close contact. The more tests we have, the more accurately we can find out the spread of transmission," he said.

The hospital bed occupancy rate (BOR) is also stable, which is below 15 percent in all provinces. The highest increase in BOR occurred in Bali, Jakarta, South Kalimantan, Banten, West Java and the Special Region of Yogyakarta, which were indeed the provinces that contributed the most daily positive cases.

"I don't get tired of reminding that even though BOR is still under control, we are not only obliged to protect ourselves, but also other people, especially vulnerable groups," he said.

The symptoms of the Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants are currently mild or even no symptoms, but the situation may be different in vulnerable groups such as the elderly who may be infected, Wiku added.

In addition, the return to normal social and economic activities of the community needs to be strengthened by the implementation and supervision of good and correct prokes discipline, so that this normal situation does not trigger another spike in cases in the future.

Wiku appealed to the public to continue to apply health care discipline, implement clean and healthy lifestyles, and immediately receive the complete vaccine or the third dose.

"The good news is the number of people receiving booster vaccines has increased by 70 percent over the past four weeks. This indicates that more and more people are finally getting booster vaccinations and this is very good, because it can increase collective protection," he said.