COVID-19 Cases Continue To High In DKI, Still Wrong Data Delays?

Illustration (Pixabay)

JAKARTA - The year-end holiday period is not over, but the number of COVID-19 cases in DKI Jakarta has shown an increase. In the last five days, new cases in the capital have almost touched 2,000 per day.

However, in the high number of cases that had set new records above 2,000 in the last five days, the DKI Provincial Government has certain reasons that caused daily cases to soar, namely delays in data reporting.

On Sunday, December 27, there were 1,997 new cases in DKI. Head of Disease Prevention and Control Division, DKI Jakarta Provincial Health Office, Dwi Oktavia said, in fact, on that day there were only 1,509 new cases. However, there is an accumulation of data on hundreds of cases that have been reported late.

"The total addition of positive cases was 1,997 cases, because there were accumulated data of 488 cases from 1 private hospital laboratory, December 23 and 24, 2020, which were just reported," Dwi said, Sunday, December 27.

The new case in DKI on Saturday, December 26, too. There are 2,058 new positive confirmed cases recorded in the Capital City. However, Dwi said, the data on new cases did not come purely on Saturday.

"The total addition of positive cases was 2,058 cases because there were accumulated data of 199 cases from 1 BUMN Hospital laboratory, on December 24, 2020 which were just reported," Dwi said.

On Friday, December 26, DKI's new cases set a new record, namely, 2,096 cases. Again, Dwi said there were hundreds of recently reported case data delays.

"The total addition of positive cases was 2,096 cases, because there were accumulated data of 502 cases from 2 private laboratories in the last 9 days that were just reported," he said.

Delay in reporting data seems to be a culture

Seeing this condition, an epidemiologist from Australia's Griffith University, Dicky Budiman admitted that he was not surprised if the handling of cases in Indonesia still collided with cases of delays in data reporting.

"There are cases of late data, yes it is in Indonesia, from the start. Moreover, there are more cases, so there will be more delays in data if handling COVID-19 is still like this," Dicky told VOI, Monday, December 28.

Not only in DKI, but data delays also occur on a national scale case number. On Thursday, December 3, the number of additional COVID-19 cases touched the number 8,369. Papua is one of the biggest contributors to COVID-19 cases, namely 1,755 cases.

Spokesperson for the COVID-19 Handling Task Force Wiku Adisasmito said at that time, the high cases in Papua and even overtaking DKI Jakarta and West Java were not the daily number of cases but an accumulation since two weeks ago or November 19.

"Data on reported cases, from the past, Indonesia has never reported it accurately. There is no report today, tested, today came out," he said.

Dicky said, it is ideal to improve data quality, including data transparency. However, he is not optimistic that the delays in data reporting can be resolved quickly.

Because, according to him, the corona virus case in Indonesia is like a snowball. The increasing number of new cases of COVID-19, the more it will require extra handling.

"Therefore, it is good now to make improvements, especially the follow-up, how to trace cases to positive patient care. Also, transparency of data still needs to be conveyed to the public," he concluded.