Only 5 Regions Reach 90 Percent Of COVID-19 Testing Target, Among Them Jakarta And Solo

ILLUSTRA TION / VOI

JAKARTA - Spokesperson for the COVID-19 Vaccination Ministry of Health said that only five regions in Indonesia had reached the target of tracing COVID-19 cases according to government regulations of 90 percent in the last three days.

"The results of the testing in the last three days were only five districts/cities that reached the target above 90 percent, namely Central Jakarta, South Jakarta, Surakarta City, Yogyakarta City and Sumenep Regency," said Siti Nadia Tarmizi, quoted by Antara, Wednesday, July 21.

Nadia said the number of testing on a national scale was reported to have increased. However, the achievement figures for testing and tracing targets in the PPKM level 4 area have remained low in the last three days.

According to Nadia, the positivity rate seems to be still above 5 percent and in some provinces this positive rate is increasing.

"This shows that there is widespread transmission in the community and the need for additional testing to immediately identify sick cases with healthy populations so that they can stop the transmission of COVID-19," he said.

Nadia said for PPKM regencies/cities level 4 in Java-Bali, testing needs to be increased, especially on weekends and holidays. Meanwhile, in order to maximize case tracking and reduce the "positivity rate", it is necessary to continue to improve "testing" of suspects and close contacts.

"To be able to immediately reduce the rate of transmission in addition to reducing mobility, it is necessary to identify close contacts quickly," he said.

The Ministry of Health asks provinces and districts/cities to increase efforts to check close contacts because the ratio of close contacts to the population is still low, namely less than 5 close contacts per week, while the expected target is more than 9 close contacts per week.

"Therefore, it is hoped that the local government will increase its tracing capacity by involving cadres, students, village midwives, or babinsa and Babinkamtibmas, where the Ministry of Health has supported its operations through Health Center Operational Cost Assistance," he said.