TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesia's Covid-19 mortality rate was still at 3.2 percent or higher than the global average of 2.09 percent, said the Covid-19 Task Force spokesperson Wiku Adisasmito.

The number of active cases, however, declined to 7.3 percent, lower than the global rate of 8.43 percent. The recovery rate also continued to increase to 89.5 percent, exceeding the global average of 89.47 percent.

Based on the death rate, Indonesia ranked 9th in the cumulative Covid-19 deaths in the world. “And as of August 22, the weekly death numbers in Indonesia were 8,784, or more than 1,000 deaths per week,” said Wiku in a written statement quoted on Wednesday, August 25.

Wiku acknowledged that the death rate remained as the big task that must be dealt with together given that this week, 33 provinces or almost all provinces recorded a hike in death numbers. Only Central Kalimantan saw a drop in the death rate by 0.03% from 2.91% to 2.88% this week.

“The urgency is in the 5 provinces that reported the highest increase, namely Central Java by 0.32%, followed by Lampung and Gorontalo by 0.3%, Bali by 0.24%, and Bengkulu by 0.17%,” he outlined.

Both Covid-19 recovery and death data in Indonesia were high. Wiku argued that was considered unusual. Normally, if the number of recoveries increases, the death numbers will go down, and vice versa.

“This is proof that general issues of the national death rate due to the Covid-19 pandemic remain an unresolved challenge,” Wiku said.

Read: Jakarta Covid-19 Update: 6.8 Percent Positivity Rate, 484 New Cases

DEWI NURITA