JAKARTA - Spokesperson for the COVID-19 Task Force (Task Force) Wiku Adisasmito spoke about the decline in the number of COVID-19 tests in Indonesia in the last week or during the long holiday welcoming the Chinese New Year.
He said, the decrease in the number of tests occurred because many laboratories were closed.
"What has led to the decrease in the cumulative number of COVID-19 testing, especially in the last three to four weeks, one of which is the long holiday so that many private laboratories are not operating," Wiku said in a press conference broadcast online on the Presidential Secretariat YouTube account, Tuesday, 16 February.
It is known that on February 12 there were 53,957 specimens examined and the results were 9,869 new cases. Furthermore, on February 13 there was a decrease in examinations, namely 37,816 specimens and the results were 8,844 new positive cases.
The decline in specimens also occurred on February 14. At that time, only 24,250 specimens were examined and the result was an increase of 6,765 cases.
Subsequently, the number of inquiries dropped further on February 15. There were 26,378 examined specimens and 6,462 new positive cases were found.
With the decrease in testing caused by the closure of this laboratory, the government worked around this by intensifying the screening method with the antigen swab test method.
"To respond to this, the government, through the Ministry of Health and the Task Force, has intensified the screening method with the antigen swab method nationally in 514 districts / cities and more than 10 thousand health centers," he said.
Furthermore, Wiku also said that the Ministry of Health also continued to analyze other factors that could be the cause of the decline in testing rates in the country while still focusing on preventing transmission in order to reduce the positivity rate.
As for the number of specimens that have been examined to date reached 10,115,963. In detail, a total of 9,968,320 specimens were examined using real time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and 147,643 using molecular rapid tests (TCM).
The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language. (system supported by DigitalSiber.id)
