Positive Cases Of COVID-19 In South Sulawesi Increase By 451 People

MAKASSAR - The South Sulawesi COVID-19 Task Force (Satgas) recorded a significant increase in COVID-19 cases, which increased by 451 cases.

The increase in daily cases is the highest during 2022, but an increase in cases has begun to be seen in the past week.

The South Sulawesi Task Force recorded the addition of 451 positive cases of COVID-19 from testing carried out on 9,372 samples. This figure is almost double the addition of cases the day before, which was 275 cases.

"On the same day, 17 people were declared cured," said Head of Disease Prevention and Control (P2P) of the South Sulawesi Health Office, Husny Thamrin, in Makassar, quoted by Antara, Thursday, February 10.

Husny said the Health Office was continuing to carry out contact tracing and testing for people who had COVID-19 symptoms, and this had been emphasized down to the basic service level, namely the puskesmas.

The addition of COVID-19 cases was responded to by the preparation of more than 1,500 isolation rooms and hospital rooms specifically for COVID-19 patients.

"Now there are 35 people in the Makassar Haji Sudiang Dormitory," said Husny.

Hasanuddin University Epidemiologist Prof Ridwan Amiruddin said that the government must anticipate this increase in cases, of course it must prepare hospitals to accept patients who are likely to experience a spike in the next 2-3 weeks.

Last month, the number of COVID-19 cases in South Sulawesi was below 10, while this week, the increase in cases was very significant. With the increase in COVID-19 patients, there has been a movement in the transmission rate, which was previously below 5 percent, now rising above 10.4 percent.

"The consequence will certainly be an increase in the number of cases, even now the isolation places have started to fill, the hospital wards have also started to fill, and that has an impact on many of our public officials who are currently exposed," said Prof Ridwan, who is also a consultant for South Sulawesi COVID-19 .