Task Force: Indonesia Always Experiences Increase In Cases When Global Trends Down

JAKARTA - Government Spokesperson for Handling COVID-19 Wiku Adisasmito stated that Indonesia has always experienced an increase in positive cases of COVID-19 when the global trend of cases has decreased.

"Throughout the pandemic, Indonesia has always experienced an increase in cases when the world's cases have passed their peak," Wiku said as quoted by Antara, Thursday, February 17.

Looking at the conditions of the global COVID-19 pandemic, Wiku said the world had experienced a decline in cases of around 60 percent from the peak of the fourth wave of COVID-19. Meanwhile, cases in Indonesia continued to increase until almost 200 times from its lowest point.

Wiku believes that Indonesia's pandemic condition can occur due to the government being strict in implementing quarantine policies and conducting tests on foreign travelers, both at the time of entry (entry) and exit (exit).

"The tightening has even been carried out since the spike in cases occurred. So that Indonesia has succeeded in delaying the importation of cases longer than other countries," said Wiku.

Meanwhile, if you look at each continent, most countries on the European continent, the United States, Canada and Australia, have experienced a consistent decline in cases from their peak period. Only Denmark continues to experience a significant increase in cases.

On the Asian continent, countries experiencing a declining trend in cases include Japan and the Philippines. Meanwhile, the increase in cases still occurred in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong and Indonesia.

Wiku then compared the trends in cases of death and hospitalization in a number of countries where the highest recorded increase in cases exceeded the peak in COVID-19 cases.

“Previously, the range of increase in cases varied between countries in the range of three to nine times the previous peak. Denmark is the country with the highest increase in cases, 13 times from its last peak," he said.

According to Wiku, Denmark's death toll is on par with the previous peak and the death toll in the United States is 20 percent higher than its last peak. For the other six countries, it tends to be lower than the previous peak with the death rate range being 50 to 80 percent lower than the last peak of cases.

At the level of hospitalization, France is experiencing conditions that are on par with the peak of the previous wave of COVID-19, while America and Denmark have doubled the trend.

"However, five out of eight countries show a trend of lower hospitalizations than their last peak with a range of between 30 and 50 percent," said Wiku.

He said the increase in mortality and treatment rates depended on public awareness in implementing health protocols. Only countries with people who are disciplined in implementing health protocols can control the COVID-19 pandemic.

"This shows that whatever the variant, the policy and the condition of the case, health protocols must always be applied with discipline," said Wiku.