Sad News From Aceh, A Total Of 1,831 Children Are Positive For COVID-19, 21 Of Them Have Died

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JAKARTA - The Indonesian Pediatrician Association (IDAI) Aceh stated that as many as 1,831 children in Indonesia's westernmost province were confirmed positive for COVID-19, and 21 of them died.

The head of IDAI Aceh, Dr dr Herlina Dimianti Sp A (K) in Banda Aceh, Monday, said the number was cumulative data during the pandemic in Aceh, which was collected through IDAI reports from all districts/cities regarding the development of COVID-19 every week.

"As of Sunday, June 20 evening, there are a total of 1,831 children in Aceh who have confirmed positive for COVID-19. And 21 people died, meaning that the child mortality rate is indeed high," she said.

Herlina explained that at the beginning of her report, COVID-19 was dominant in attacking adults. However, because the disease is caused by a virus, anyone has the potential to be infected, including the group of children, namely those aged 0-18 years.

Groups of children, she said, are also vulnerable to being infected with COVID-19, especially in their community there are people who are positive. In fact, she said, data collected by IDAI throughout Indonesia had a child mortality rate of 3-5 percent.

In Aceh, she continued, the cause of death of children infected with COVID-19 is the same as adults, who also have comorbidities.

“Our data shows that there are comorbidities with children, such as nutrition, heart disease, and neurological problems. So the child has another basic disease, is infected with COVID-19, then the condition worsens," she said.

According to her, the majority of children were infected from family clusters, namely, when one of the family members is positive, the child participates in tracing and testing.

There are also those who are infected in their environment, because Aceh has high local transmission, so if there are family members none of them are positive but the child is confirmed to be COVID-19.

She added that the COVID-19 cases in children were spread across all districts/cities in Aceh, but most of them came from Banda Aceh City which reached 829 children, Aceh Besar District 186 children, and Bireuen District 154 children.

Of the 1,831 children, 1,284 of them were positively infected with COVID-19 but did not have symptoms so they only needed self-isolation at home so they wouldn't infect other residents.

Meanwhile, 547 other positive COVID-19 children have symptoms that require treatment at a referral hospital.

"That's the cumulative data that we have collected since May 2020. This means that now many have finished isolation and treatment, so they have been declared cured," she said.

According to IDAI, the implementation of health protocols in Aceh is still tenuous. Therefore, she appealed to the local community to continue to be disciplined in implementing health protocols, especially wearing masks and maintaining distance when doing activities in the community.

"From the start, it has been said that the health protocol is very important in controlling the spread of COVID-19," said Herlina Dimianti.