TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - COVID-19 Handling Task Force Chairman Doni Monardo said the country’s death rate caused by the coronavirus disease still exceeded the global average. Doni reported the gap reached 0.49 percent.

“This is addressed by President (Jokowi), on how we can lower the death rate again,” said Doni in a joint meeting with the House of Representatives (DPR)'s Health Commission in Jakarta, Monday, March 15.

Based on the official report on covid-19.go.id, the case fatality rate stood at 2.7 percent as of March 14, 2021. This means at least 38,000 people out of the total cases of more than 1.4 million have died.

The World Health Organization (WHO) on the same day, meanwhile, reported 2.6 million deaths from 119.2 million total cases. The percentage was 2.2 percent, lower than Indonesia’s death rate.

However, Doni said the trend of active cases decreased in the last one to two months. Of the 1.4 million people who have been infected with the virus in Indonesia, there are only 137,000 cases as of March 14, or 9.72 percent. “We have now reached a single digit,” he added.

The figure dropped from previously 14.7 percent on January 1, 2021. Besides, it was lower than the global average of 17.34 percent.

Doni went on to report that the COVID-19 recovery rate jumped significantly as 1.24 million have recovered from the disease. The current rate hits 87.58 percent from 82.2 percent on January 1, 2021. The figure is above the global average of 80.4 percent.

Read: Health Minister Logs Downward Trend of COVID-19 Cases in Last Two Months

FAJAR PEBRIANTO