Deputy Governor Riza Denies Pneumonia Patients In Jakarta Increase: Still A Reasonable Limit

Jakarta Deputy Governor Ahmad Riza Patria (Photo: ANTARA)

JAKARTA - Deputy Governor of DKI Jakarta Ahmad Riza Patria denied the news of an increase in pneumonia cases in Jakarta hospitals at this time.

Riza admitted that he had checked the data on pneumonia patients at the DKI Jakarta Health Office. As a result, the number of cases of pneumonia is still within normal limits.

"The answer from the health office that we received was still within reasonable limits, yes, it was normal, there was no increase as stated," said Riza at DKI City Hall, Central Jakarta, Wednesday, October 27.

Riza suspects, maybe there is one hospital in the capital that has an increase in pneumonia patients. However, in general, pneumonia patients in Jakarta are still within reasonable limits. Considering that currently, the occupancy of isolation beds and ICUs in Jakarta is still low.

"Maybe by chance, there is an increase in the hospital, but in general there is no increase in Jakarta. It's still normal, yes, our ICU is still 20 percent and 7 percent of beds," he said.

It is known, the news of the increasing number of pediatric patients suffering from pneumonia has become a conversation on Twitter's timeline. This news comes from the upload of the Twitter account owner @desperadro. He claimed to work at one of the Regional General Hospitals (RSUD) in Jakarta.

"At the RSUD suddenly there are so many pediatric patients with pneumonia until the pneumonia room is full. It's a sign that we have started to be careless with social distancing and health procedures," wrote @desperadro.

Indeed, the account does not say that all pneumonia cases are related to COVID-19. But according to medical rules, pneumonia patients should be suspected of having COVID-19 until their PCR test results are negative.

"All children's pneumonia during the pandemic, until the PCR results come out negative, must be suspected of COVID-19. So we still need vigilance," he tweeted.