The Difference Between The COVID-19 Pandemic And Avian Flu

Illustration (Pixabay)

JAKARTA - COVID-19 is not the first pandemic to hit Indonesia, even the world. Prior to this, there was an outbreak of bird flu that occurred from 2005 to 2010. Although the symptoms between COVID-19 and avian flu were almost the same, it turned out that these two diseases had differences.

Former Chief Executive of the National Committee for Avian Influenza and Pandemic Influenza Prevention, Bayu Krisnamurthi said bird flu transmission has occurred in poultry since 2003. However, in 2005, the disease mutated and was transmitted to humans.

If in the face of the corona virus, the government forms a Task Force for the Acceleration of Handling COVID-19, in the case of avian flu the government forms the National Avian Flu Commission.

"Komnas HAM was formed, chaired by the Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare and I as the daily chief executive. We are very intense, both the president and the ministers are monitoring the progress of this case," said Bayu in a discussion at Graha BNPB, East Jakarta, Friday, July 10.

Based on case data, the level of transmission between bird flu and COVID-19 is also different. In the case of bird flu, the World Health Organization (WHO) recorded that as many as 861 people in the world were infected with this virus in the period 2005-2019. In the same period, bird flu infected 200 people in Indonesia.

Meanwhile, for the COVID-19 case, since its appearance in Wuhan, China at the end of 2019 to July 9, it has infected 12,169,400 people in the world. In Indonesia, 70,736 confirmed cases have been confirmed and the number will continue to grow because the pandemic has not been declared over.

"In terms of numbers, when compared to COVID-19, to be honest, I would say that bird flu is nothing," said Bayu.

But, he said, the impact of the bird flu virus was more dangerous than COVID-19. This is because the percentage of the death rate from bird flu sufferers is quite high.

If you look at the data, the death rate of bird flu worldwide is more than half the number of sufferers, namely 455 people who have died or about 60 percent. Meanwhile, the death rate in Indonesia is higher at 168 people or 80 percent.

Meanwhile, in the case of COVID-19, the death rate worldwide currently reaches 552,104 people or about 4 percent of the total cases. In Indonesia, the death rate reached 3,417 cases or around 4.8 percent.

"What's terrible about bird flu is the case fatality rate. If an Indonesian gets bird flu, there is an 80 percent chance of dying," he said.

Furthermore, Budi revealed the strategy carried out by the National Commission for Avian Influenza to deal with the outbreak. First, the government involves all existing scientists and scientists to find ways to prevent and cure bird flu.

"So, we are really looking for the best brain in Indonesia and in the world to handle it. Alhamdulillah, the bird flu network is the same as the one currently handling COVID-19, such as Eijkman, Airlangga, UGM, and UI," Budi explained. .

"The capacity for scientific development that we did at that time turned out to work well and then brought accumulative knowledge like now," he added.

Then, there is massive outreach to the public about the dangers of bird flu. In fact, the government appointed a Bird Flu Response Ambassador in 2007, namely Muhamad Farhan.

"We need very intensively to reach the community with continuous communication and creative communication, communication that makes them not only afraid, but also alert. We are ready to handle this," he concluded.