Even Though Cases Continue To Rise, It Turns Out That The COVID-19 Testing-Tracing Rate In Java-Bali Is Still Low

Illustrated (Irfan Meidianto / VOI)

JAKARTA - The number of new cases of COVID-19 in Indonesia is currently increasing. This is in line with the increasing number of specimens examined, an average of more than 150 thousand examinations per day.

However, the Spokesperson for the Ministry of Health, Siti Nadia Tarmizi, said that the number of testing and tracing in Java and Bali during Emergency Community Activity Restrictions (PPKM) was still low and had not yet reached the target.

"Despite the increase in the number of reported tests, this number is still 38 percent of the targeted number of tests carried out in Java-Bali every day, which is 324.000 tests", Nadia said in a virtual press conference, quoted Thursday, July 8.

In addition, the number of tracing cases or tracing in Java and Bali is also not optimal. It is known, the Java-Bali COVID-19 positivity rate is currently at 19.9 percent this week and was at 24.7 percent last week.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health is targeting every area in Java and Bali, which has a high number of cases, to conduct a minimum search of 15 close contacts to suppress the spread of cases.

"At the provincial level, the reported tracking is still very low, far from the expected target of at least 15 close contacts per case", he said.

Therefore, Nadia asked all governments and stakeholders in Java and Bali to work hard to increase response capacity in their working areas. the target number of testing, tracking, and conversion of treatment beds should be increased accordingly.

"We are increasingly pushing the number of testing to be increased so that we can immediately separate sick cases from healthy populations", said Nadia.

"The discovery that was followed by the isolation of the case followed up by tracking and quarantine of the contract was an effort to break the chain of transmission", he continued.