COVID-19 Cases In Palembang Increase After Eid Al-Fitr

Secretary of Palembang City Queen Of Gods / Antara

JAKARTA - Regional Secretary of Palembang City, South Sumatra Ratu Dewa said there was an increase in COVID-19 cases in the area after Eid al-Fitr 1442 Hijri.

"We see the trend is still up but for positive cases there is a decrease, such as as of May 14, 56 cases and yesterday down to 50 cases," he said in Palembang, reported antara, Monday, May 17.

The condition of this increase in cases is also observed from the level of COVID-19 hospital availability which moves from 54 to 59 percent.

However, the increase in COVID-19 cases is also offset by the increasing number of cures.

Related to the current conditions, the government coordinates with the Provincial Government of South Sumatra for the use of Wisma Atlet Jakabaring in anticipation of increasing the need for isolation rooms.

So far, there are 18 hospitals that are referred to COVID-19 patients.

However, Palembang Municipality plans to increase the isolation room in Bari Hospital from 20 to 30 rooms in order to play a role in the surge in cases.

Kasi Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Dinkes Palembang Yudhi Setiawan said the government is still waiting for information from the Provincial Government of South Sumatra related to the utilization of Wisma Atlet Jakabaring Palembang for COVID-19 patients.

Currently, the bad occupancy ratio (BOR) data in hospitals in Palembang until May 16, 2021 reached 59.6 percent.

"Filled 562 beds from a capacity of 848 beds. The figure is above 50 percent and it's not good," he said.

The incidence of COVID-19 or the number of positive cases per 100,000 residents in Palembang city was recorded the highest in South Sumatra Province beating Lubuklinggau City which for months had previously ranked first.

Data from the South Sumatra Health Office as of May 14, 2021 records the incidence of Palembang city at 675 which means that 675 people out of 100,000 people in Palembang have been positively confirmed as COVID-19 since March 2020.