Update On COVID-19 As Of May 17: Beware Of People Without Symptoms Around Us

Spokesperson for Handling COVID-19 Achmad Yurianto (Yuri) (Photo: BNPB documentation)

JAKARTA - The spread of the corona virus or COVID-19 continues to occur. Currently, the number of positive patients has increased by 489 people. Thus, the total number of positive cases of COVID-19 in Indonesia currently has reached 17,514 people.

So, with the addition of these cases, the government asks the public to be aware of people without symptoms (OTG) who have the potential to spread the virus without realizing it.

"This is a very clear picture that new cases are still happening. Therefore, it means positive cases as carriers of the virus are still in our midst and this is what OTG has repeatedly mentioned, without symptoms while in his body carrying the virus," said the spokesman. Talking about the handling of COVID-19 Achmad Yurianto (Yuri) in a press conference broadcast on the BNPB account, Sunday, May 17.

Meanwhile, continued Yuri, the number of positive patients who were declared cured increased by 218 people. Thus, the total number of patients who were declared cured reached 4,129 people.

Meanwhile, for patients who died, now the number is 1,148 people because there are an additional 59 people.

Furthermore, the number of people under surveillance (ODP) has now increased by 1,427 people. So that the total ODP in Indonesia is now 270,876 people. For patients under surveillance (PDP) the number increased by 731 people. So that the total PDP has now reached 35,800 people.

The total number of laboratories using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method and molecular rapid test (TCM) reached 71 laboratories. For tests using the PCR method, up to now 187,965 specimens have been tested.

Infographics update on the acceleration of handling of COVID-19 in Indonesia as of May 17, 2020 at 12.00 WIB. # UnitedCovid19 pic.twitter.com/sciA0Pyyvk

- BNPB Indonesia (BNPB_Indonesia) May 17, 2020

Checking the crowd at Soetta Airport

Some time ago, there was a viral photo of the crowd at Soekarno-Hatta Airport. The Task Force for the Acceleration of Handling COVID-19 has checked there, as well as monitoring the implementation of the Circular of the Task Force for the Acceleration of Handling COVID-19 Number 4 of 2020 concerning Criteria for Restricting People in the Context of Accelerating Handling of COVID-19.

According to Yuri, the public began to understand that the flight travel exemption was only intended to deal with the spread of COVID-19.

"We see that most (passengers) in the framework of this task involve many institutions," said Yurianto.

In the monitoring, he claimed, the public began to understand the importance of maintaining distance in the crowd. In addition, Yurianto also said that the community followed the signs given by officers and followed all checks before being allowed to fly to various destinations.

If there is a buildup of passengers, said Yuri, this usually happens on flights from 06.00 WIB to 08.00 WIB. This is because there is a fairly long and thorough administrative checking process that takes a long time.

"For Soetta Airport, they (passengers) for departure at 06.00 am usually they arrive at 02.00 am," he said.