Ministry Of Health: COVID-19 Testing Affects The Rate Of Increase In Cases In The Last 3 Weeks

JAKARTA - Spokesperson for the Ministry of Health Mohamad Syahril said the increase in the number of COVID-19 cases in Indonesia in the last three weeks was also influenced by the rate of testing of residents who had close contact with patients.

"The World Health Organization (WHO) testing standard is 1 per 1,000 people who are in contact. So, not all residents are tested. The position of Indonesia is around 20,000, we have to do testing," said Mohamad Syahril, quoted by Antara, Thursday, 9 June.

Syahril said the increase in the number of COVID-19 cases by 31 percent in the last three weeks in the country was also influenced by the achievement of testing on residents who had close contact with patients who were confirmed positive for SARS-CoV-2 that causes COVID-19.

"Another factor is the behavior of the public who are not disciplined towards the health protocols suggested by the experts," said Syahril, adding.

Data released by the COVID-19 Handling Task Force reports that the trend of weekly cases in Indonesia has increased again, which is 31 percent. Data on May 22 2022, positive cases totaled 1,814 cases, but now it has risen to 2,385 cases.

Daily active cases also experienced an increase of 328 cases or 10 percent. From the daily active cases reported on June 2, 2022, namely 3,105 cases, now it has increased to 3,433 cases.

There are five provinces that contributed to the highest increase in COVID-19 cases in the past week, namely DKI Jakarta (30 percent), Banten (38 percent), West Java (18 percent), DI Yogyakarta (45 percent) and East Java (37 percent). ).

Syahril, who also serves as President Director of RSPI Sulianti Saroso, said that surveillance activities in the form of testing and tracing of contact cases are currently not as massive as those carried out in the previous pandemic situation.

"Current surveillance is not massive, but it is still being carried out, especially in contact patients. It is not massive because the indicator number is low," he said.

The situation is under control based on WHO provisions, from the indicator that the positivity rate is set below 5 percent, the hospital bed occupancy rate (BOR) is below 5 percent, the mortality rate is below 3 percent, and testing is 1 per 100,000 people who have contact.

"The increase in cases in Indonesia in the last three weeks is still within a very controlled limit," he said.

Syahril added that President Joko Widodo's policy of easing masks was a signal that the pandemic in Indonesia was under control.

"But there are still restrictions with the intention that we are not free. Many other countries released everything, then there was a spike in cases and another lockdown," he said.