Update On COVID-19 Per March 24: Those Who Are Entitled To Prioritize Rapid Test

Government spokesman for the handling of the corona virus or COVID-19 Achmad Yurianto (Photo: Twitter @ ag3126)

JAKARTA - Government spokesman for the handling of the corona virus or COVID-19 Achmad Yurianto explained that there had been an increase of 107 positive patients with the corona virus or COVID-19, as of Tuesday, March 24 at 12.00 WIB. In total, there were 686 positive COVID-19 patients. They are all distributed in various provinces in Indonesia.

Yuri continued, there were an additional 7 cases of patients who died and a total of 55 people died. Meanwhile, as of today, there are no additional cases of patients who have been declared cured, which means that they are still at 30.

"However, there are some who have tested negative for specimens once, we will wait for tomorrow. If the second examination is negative, it means that they are cured," said Yuri at Graha BNPB, East Jakarta, Tuesday, March 24.

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- BNPB Indonesia (@BNPB_Indonesia) March 24, 2020

DKI Jakarta is still the province with the highest number of COVID-19 cases in Indonesia. As of today, 427 positive cases have been recorded in all administrative cities. Then, there were 26 positive case patients who were hospitalized, 23 people were declared cured, 32 people died, and 106 people went into independent isolation.

BNPB daily report (Photo: BNPB documentation)

Yuri added that Wisma Atlet Kemayoran, which was transformed into an emergency hospital for COVID-19 patients, had received 102 visits from COVID-19 patients. A total of 71 people were treated immediately, and 31 people did not need to be treated.

Yuri said, this additional hospital is part of hospital isolation. Those placed are people who only need isolation, not intensive care. From the results of the examination, most of the positive patients had mild symptoms.

"In fact, almost 80 percent of the positive cases that exist are statistically in a complaint position with mild symptoms, or mild to moderate symptoms," said Yuri, adding that patients with mild symptoms can self-isolate in their respective homes.

"This is what we will encourage so that not all positive cases will become a burden for hospital care services," he said.

Today, Yuri conveyed that the central government has distributed 125 thousand sets of COVID-19 rapid tests to all provinces in Indonesia. However, the tests have not been carried out evenly. Due to the limited number of antibody testing tools, the government has prioritized the two groups to undergo rapid test examinations first.

First, the test will be carried out on people who have had close contact through contact tracing with patients who have tested positive, both those who are hospitalized and self-isolating at home.

"Part of tracing the contacts of families who live at home, we have to check everything. If during the course of his contact before being sick, it turns out that there is a history of him having worked at his place of work and there is a work environment that also has the possibility of close contact, then we will also carry it out on the spot. it works, "Yuri explained.

The number two group that is prioritized for rapid test examinations are health workers serving COVID-19 patients. Examinations are carried out thoroughly, starting from doctors, nurses, hospital cleaners, to front office services.

"We know that they are a sensitive group to get infected with COVID-19. This is the priority we carry out for the rapid test in the first stage," he said.

However, the rapid test does not stop there. Yuri said, after the government brought back the blood specimen test kit, the examination would be carried out on an area basis.

"In the next shipment, with a larger number, it will be based on the area where this case was found and then we consider it as a potential area for transmission to emerge," he said.