Coordinating Minister Airlangga: The Number Of Testing For COVID-19 In Indonesia Has Exceeded The WHO Standard

Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, Airlangga Hartarto. (Photo: Twitter @airlangga_hrt)

JAKARTA - Coordinating Minister for the Economy Airlangga Hartarto stated that the number of COVID-19 tests carried out by Indonesia had exceeded the standards set by the World Health Organization (WHO). It was recorded that the period from 10 to 16 January 2021 reached 288,137 people.

"The WHO standard is 10 percent per 1,000 people. So that at least Indonesia reaches 107.69 percent of the WHO standard," he said at a press conference, Thursday, January 21.

Airlangga said even though the weekly COVID-19 tests in Indonesia had met the WHO standard requirements, the government would still encourage other areas, especially the red zone, to do testing.

Airlangga said, equal distribution of COVID-19 testing is very important to do in handling COVID-19 in Indonesia. Nationally, the total number exposed to COVID-19 has exceeded 900 thousand with 15.9 percent active cases, 81.2 percent recovered and 2.9 percent died.

Furthermore, Airlangga said, the data showed a decrease compared to the previous one, but this figure was still above global. So that the testing, tracing, and treatment (3T) program must continue to run.

Not only that, the Chairperson of the Committee for Handling COVID-19 and National Economic Recovery (KCP-PEN) also said that improving health services is the government's priority in handling COVID-19 cases.

As is known, the COVID-19 cases in Indonesia have not yet subsided. In fact, there is an increase every day. Based on data from the Ministry of Health, it was recorded that up to Thursday, January 21, at 12.00 WIB, the total cumulative cases in Indonesia reached 951,651 people.

Meanwhile, new cases per day are recorded at 11,703. This new case was found from 67,454 people who were investigated during the same period. Meanwhile, the number of cured cases was 9,087 patients, and a total of 772,790 people.

Then, as many as 346 cases died per day. So that 27,203 people have been recorded who have died from this virus.

With this data, the number of active cases or patients requiring treatment in both health facilities and independent isolation increased slightly, namely to 151,658 people compared to 149,388 people yesterday.