Indonesia Prepares To Enter COVID-19 Endemic, But There Are Still 8 Provinces With Increased Cases

Murals in Indonesia to encourage others to face the COVID-19 pandemic. (Antara)aa

JAKARTA - Indonesia is preparing for the COVID-19 endemic. Preparations for releasing this pandemic status will begin gradually in early 2023. This is based on the COVID-19 assessment parameters which continue to slop.

However, the Spokesperson for the Ministry of Health, Mohammad Syahril, said that vigilance against the possibility of virus mutations is still being carried out. Bearing in mind, currently there are still 8 provinces experiencing an increase in cases.

"There are still 8 provinces in Indonesia that have experienced an increase in cases over the past week, namely the Special Region of Yogyakarta, Bangka Belitung, North Maluku, East Nusa Tenggara, West Sulawesi, South Sulawesi, Southeast Sulawesi and Main Sulawesi. While the other 26 provinces experienced a decrease in cases. daily," Syahril said in his statement, quoted on Monday, October 3.

Nationally, the sloping of COVID-19 cases is based on a number of parameters, from the number of cases to the use of COVID-19 treatment beds.

The first parameter is the decline in weekly confirmed cases since the third week of August. Currently, the average daily number of COVID-19 cases is around 2,000. This was accompanied by a decrease in the weekly positivity rate to 6.38 percent in the last week.

Likewise, cases of death also decreased to 123 per week, or an average of under 20 per day.

Syahril continued, the decline in the number of cases was also accompanied by a decrease in the number of treatments for COVID-19 patients in hospitals, where the BOR continued to decline from 5 percent on September 10 to 4.83 percent today. Likewise, the daily case with the positivity rate tends to slope in the last month.

"According to the announcement of the Director General of WHO, currently the whole world is facing an exciting period because the signs of the disappearance of the COVID pandemic are starting to appear, including in Indonesia," he explained.

On that occasion, Syahril revealed that Indonesia adopted six WHO strategies towards endemic starting from communicating risks through socialization to the public that the COVID-19 pandemic still exists with risks.

Second, vaccinate dose 1, dose 2 to booster vaccination. Furthermore, ensuring the health service system from upstream to downstream in anticipation of a spike in cases, as well as comprehensive and continuous control efforts.