TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Health Ministry revealed that the hospital bed occupancy rate (BOR) for Covid-19 patients in Java and Bali continued to improve. Based on the ministry's data as of Sunday, August 8, only three regions in Java and Bali recorded high rates, viz. Bali, Yogyakarta, and East Java.

The BOR will be one of the indicators of the continuation of the public mobility restrictions or PPKM which will end today, August 9. The government will make the announcement whether or not it will continue today.

According to the spokesman of the Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs and Investment, Jodi Mahardi, the BOR is part of the health response indicator. “Besides the testing in the form of the positivity rate and the tracing in the form of searching for close contacts in confirmed cases,” he explained on Sunday, August 8.

South Kalimantan recorded the highest BOR of 78 percent, followed by Bali at 76 percent. The BOR in Yogyakarta, meanwhile, was at 70 percent and in East Java at 61 percent.

A number of other major regions have seen improvement. The BOR in Central Java stood at 46 percent and West Java at 42 percent. Jakarta also reported a decline in BOR to 40 percent.

Judging from the Health Ministry's data, it was obvious that the high rate moved to areas outside Java and Bali, such as Kalimantan (74 percent), Gorontalo (74 percent), Riau (71 percent), Central Sulawesi (70 percent), and West Sumatra (70 percent).

Moreover, the occupancy rate of ICU beds in four regions was in a critical condition, namely Gorontalo (91 percent), West Sumatra (84 percent), South Sumatra (81 percent), and Riau (80 percent).

Meanwhile, the ICU beds occupancy rate for Covid-19 patients in Bali, East Java, West Java, Central Java, Banten, Yogyakarta, and Jakarta were still at alarming status as it was still above 60 percent.

Read: PKS Faction Deducts Its Legislators' Salaries for COVID-19 Relief

EGI ADYATAMA