Rapid Test Results Find Many Positive COVID-19 Patients In West Java

Illustrations (Irfan Meidianto / VOI)

JAKARTA - West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil stated that 15,000 residents have taken the coronavirus or COVID-19 rapid test. Of the 15 thousand people who took the rapid test, around 600 of them tested positive for the virus.

"Of the 15 thousand that were reported to us, sir (Vice President), the bad news is 677 positive. So, the more we test, the more we know these viruses are circulating everywhere," Ridwan said, Friday, April 3.

This was reported by Ridwan Kamil to the Vice President of the Republic of Indonesia, Ma'ruf Amin, in a coordination meeting via video conference in their respective offices.

This rapid test, said Ridwan, was carried out by West Java Health Service officers by door to door, drive thru, and examinations at hospitals and puskesmas.

The most positive results were at the Sukabumi Police Education Institute Officer Formation School (Setukpa Lemdikpol). This location carried out a rapid test because there were 7 people tested positive for the virus. After that, out of around 1,500 school residents who were tested, it turned out that 310 people were positive for COVID-19.

"So, as of today, Sukabumi is the city with the most individuals exposed to COVID-19 outside Jakarta. Fortunately, he gathered in one school. So, we isolated one school, his activities were taken over by the National Police Chief," said Ridwan.

In addition, the congregation of the Bethel Church in Bandung was also one of the clusters that were carried out in a rapid test. Because, in early March, the congregation attended a religious seminar. It turned out that at that time, the pastor and his wife were exposed to COVID-19. Of the 637 Bethel Church congregations who were tested, the results showed 226 people who tested positive.

"They gathered and the pastor made physical touch. Now, the pastor and his wife died of COVID-19. The results (rapid test) ratio is bigger (than rapid tests in other locations), around 35 percent," he explained.

However, the number of 667 West Java residents who tested positive based on the results of the rapid test has not been declared an official case by the Ministry of Health. This is because they need to undergo a more accurate PCR swab (saliva specimen test). However, Ridwan regretted the minimal number of swab samples tested by the Ministry of Health's Balitbangkes. They are only able to check a maximum of 200 samples per day.

Fortunately, West Java has a swab kit purchased independently from South Korea. "We can test 500 samples at our health laboratory. From the 500 tests we found positive results, for example the Mayor of Bogor, Bima Arya, the Deputy Mayor of Bandung, and the Regent of Karawang," said Ridwan.

Ridwan predicted that actually there are still many positive cases that have not been revealed by government data. This he based on testing positive cases in West Java.

Reflecting on positive cases in South Korea, the positive number of COVID-19 there reached more than 9,000 people, with a population of 51 million. Ridwan's opinion is that the large number of positive cases in South Korea is because they are able to test PCR as many as 15 thousand people per day.

"So, I believe in fact today our cases have multiplied many times. But, because the speed of the test is not as much as we expected, it seems as if few have come," Ridwan said.

Therefore, Ridwan asked the central government to further strengthen the capacity of testing COVID-19 cases. "That is the role of the central government, which is needed to increase the number of test kits so that we know what to do," he concluded.