Increased Strength, 5,816 People Have Registered As Volunteers For Handling COVID-19

Volunteers from the IMMI Humanitarian Post at the Abidin Mosque in Medan (Source: BNPB Volunteer Desk)

JAKARTA - The spread of COVID-19 in Indonesia is increasingly widespread. Since the first cases were announced on March 2, 1,285 people have tested positive. The National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) calls on Indonesians to become volunteers, helping authorities reduce the spread of COVID-19.

Good news, until Saturday, 28 yesterday, 5,816 people have registered as volunteers, starting from the opening of online registration three days earlier, Wednesday, March 25.

Chairperson of the Indonesian Disaster Management Society (MPBI) Dandi Prasetia explained, of the 5,816 people who had registered, most of the volunteers were non-medical personnel, totaling 4,008 people. Meanwhile, there were 1,808 medical volunteers and medical personnel.

According to the incoming data, said Dandi, the volunteers registered from various regions in Indonesia. West Java Province is the region that contributes the most volunteers with a total of 1,445 people. The second largest is DKI Jakarta with 1,384 people.

"Next from the East Java region as many as 559 people, Banten 402 people and Central Java 348 people," said Dandi, at the office of the Task Force for the Acceleration of Handling COVID-19, Graha of the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) Jakarta, Sunday, March 29.

Volunteer action from the IMMI Humanitarian Post at the Abidin Mosque in Medan (Source: BNPB Volunteer Desk)

Meanwhile, according to the age chart, the volunteers who registered the most were from the productive age group, namely 19 to 30 years. If classified by gender, the volunteers who registered were 2,364 men and 1,856 women.

The second largest age group, from 31 years to 40 years, consisted of 636 males and 225 females. Furthermore, the age group of 41 to 50 years, as many as 275 men and 68 women. Meanwhile, the age group of 51 to 60 years is 75 men and 25 women.

"There are also five men over 60 years of age. There are 85 men and 45 women who are registered without any information regarding their age," he said.

As is known, BNPB as the Task Force for the Acceleration of Handling COVID-19 has opened registration for volunteers since March 25, registration can be done via the deskrelawanpb.bnpb.go.id/covid-19 page.

Deksrelawan is a national digital platform initiated by BNPB and assisted by several humanitarian volunteer organizations such as MPBI, Save The Children, RedR Indonesia, and others. The purpose of this de-volunteer is to assist the distribution of volunteer human resources to organizations and institutions in need.

Previously, Head of BNPB as well as Head of the Task Force for the Acceleration of Handling COVID-19 Doni Monardo said the volunteer team played an important role in overcoming the outbreak of the new type of corona virus. "The volunteer team is important for us today, because of the conception of handling the COVID-19 epidemic, the government cannot stand alone," he said, at the BNPB building, Jakarta, Wednesday, March 25.

As is known, until Sunday, March 29, DKI Jakarta is still the province with the highest number of COVID-19 sufferers in the country with 701 patients, of which 48 have been declared cured and 67 people have died.

In the same period of time, the total number of positive COVID-19 patients in Indonesia reached 1,285 people. Of these, 64 patients were declared cured and 114 died.