Banyuwangi Cluster Appears, 57 Positive People With COVID-19, 6 Died

ILLUSTRATION/SURABAYA CITY GOVERNMENT

BANYUWANGI - As many as 57 people in Yudomulyo Hamlet, Ringintelo Village, Bangorejo District, Banyuwangi, East Java, tested positive for COVID-19.

Of these 6 people were declared dead and 7 people were undergoing treatment at the hospital.

The remaining 44 people underwent independent isolation because they had no symptoms.

The spokesperson for the Banyuwangi COVID-19 Task Force, Dr. Widji Lestariono, said that the cluster of one hamlet was discovered after one resident was sick and died in early May 2021. The resident died with a positive test result for COVID-19.

"Then the public health center will carry out tracing to families, and other places with a larger area with hundreds of people are checked," he told reporters, Sunday, May 9.

The results were 57 positive, 6 died, and 7 were treated. The task force and related parties have difficulty tracing the origin of this virus that infected residents. Because the transmission of COVID-19 in Banyuwangi has occurred through local transmission.

Now his party is still conducting contact tracing to check for people who have made close contact.

"The tracing is still continuing. We cannot (predict the origin of the transmission) because it is a local transmission," he said.

He added that those who were positive on average came from the closest environment, namely family.

The first victim did pray tarawih at one of the prayer rooms. However, after tracing and tests were carried out, his party did not find any other worshipers who were positive for Covid-19.

He denied that the affected residents came from the tarawih cluster. Because a number of congregants who tested the results were negative.

"Actually, it is not appropriate to call the tarawih cluster, a few nights before (the first victim) tarawih in one mosque, and the positive one in the family environment, the tarawih congregation was even negative," he said.

Regarding the number of positive residents, the Banyuwangi Regency Government implemented restrictions on entry and exit for villagers.

"Yes, there are restrictions in and out of the hamlet," he said.

As of May 8, 2021, 6,254 people in Banyuwangi tested positive for COVID 19. Then 5,459 were declared cured and 164 were still being treated. There were also a total of 631 people who died.