Something Is Wrong With Our COVID-19 Testing Strategies According To Epidemiologist

Illustration. (Photo: Unsplash)

JAKARTA - Epidemiologist from Griffith University, Dicky Budiman thinks that the government's COVID-19 testing strategy has been wrong so far.

This is in response to the recognition of the Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment as well as the Deputy Chairperson of KPC-PEN, Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, who said that 2 million negative COVID-19 test results were reported late.

Luhut said that the 2 million negative data could help reduce the positivity rate, which currently stands at 17.9 percent. The positivity rate is the cumulative positive result of the number of people tested for the PCR swab.

"There is something wrong with our testing strategy so far. Because the late data is reported to show data inconsistencies between the indicators of handling COVID-19 at the beginning and at the end", Dicky told reporters, Sunday, February 7.

According to Dicky, Luhut's confession about negative data that was reported late and was able to reduce the positivity rate was inversely proportional to the results of late handling of COVID-19 indicators.

That is, currently, the death rate for COVID-19 cases in Indonesia is still above the world average and the bed capacity of COVID-19 referral hospitals is running low.

"If you look at, for example, the positivity rate is down, low, while the late indicator is high, it means that another assumption is that our testing strategy is wrong. The mortality rate and the RS rate are facts that speak and represent problems that exist beneath the surface", he said.

Therefore, Dicky considers the government to improve the 3T strategy, namely tracing, testing and treatment. This is because negative data, which according to Luhut can reduce the positivity rate, does not help improve the handling of COVID-19.

"We have to seriously evaluate our 3T strategy because there is a target error, considering the person who tested negative or negative several times and this does not contribute to the improvement of the situation. This means that an evaluation must be carried out", he explained.