Friendship Hospital Asks Jakarta Residents To Beware Of The Spike In COVID-19 In ASEAN, Especially The Elderly

Illustration. Fast COVID-19 antigen test at the NTB Health and Calibration Laboratory Center in Mataram, NTB, Tuesday 22 December 2020.(ANTARA-Ahmad Subaidi)

JAKARTA - The Friendship Center General Hospital (RSUP) asked DKI Jakarta residents, especially the elderly (elderly), to be aware of the spread of COVID-19 following the surge in the virus in a number of ASEAN countries.

"When we talk about the increase in cases, of course, we need to be aware of the community, especially in high-risk groups," said President Director of Friendship Hospital Agus Dwi Susanto in Rawamangun, East Jakarta (Jaktim), Thursday.

This, he continued, is because this high risk group has the potential for worsening from respiratory symptoms that can occur in these patients. However, if exposed to COVID-19 can become more severe.

"In old age, those who have comorbidities have basic diseases, heart disease, lung disease and other diseases. Usually it will worsen the condition if you have COVID," he said.

Therefore, vigilance must be increased to these high-risk groups.

The number of COVID-19 patients at Friendship Hospital has not yet increased significantly. They are still able to overcome it.

"If the data is at the Friendship Hospital, there is treatment (COVID-19 patient) but it is not significant, for COVID-19 patients in December yesterday they treated three patients with moderate COVID-19," he said.

In addition to preparing a special room, Agus said, his party has also prepared Human Resources (HR) that have been trained to handle COVID-19 and according to standard operating procedures (SOP).

"We have been a COVID hospital for a long time, we have had a special room for infectious diseases, such as bird flu, SARS including COVID-19. Our human resources have been trained to deal with COVID and our SOPs are still the same, there has been no change," said Agus.

The DKI Jakarta Health Office stated that the number of positive cases of COVID-19 in DKI Jakarta as of Wednesday, December 13, 2023 was 365 cases.

On Monday, December 11, 2023, 57 positive cases were found, then on December 12 there were 127 cases and on December 131 cases.

"There were 2 cases of death on December 1-10, while there were 0 cases of death on December 11-13," said Head of the DKI Jakarta Health Service (Dinkes) Surveillance, Epidemiology and Immunization Section Ngabila Salama when confirmed in Jakarta, Thursday.