TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - University of Indonesia Faculty of Medicine's Department of Pulmonology and Respiratory Medicine professor Tjandra Yoga Aditama on Monday revealed that Indonesia's Covid-19 recovery index is considered admirable and even exceeds other ASEAN countries.

However, he stated that it does not align with the Covid mortality rate logged by Johns Hopkins University. The professor insisted that Indonesia needs to work harder to lower the fatality rate.

In terms of recovery index, a Nikkei Recovery Index report on October 6 involving 120 countries ranks Indonesia in 54th place, nearly at the same rate as India that ranked 40th in the same index. India managed to recover from the Covid-19 surge in the middle of this year.

“Other ASEAN countries are ranked below us with Malaysia in 102, Myanmar at 105, Thailand at 109, Vietnam 118, Laos 120, Philippines 121, and Singapore at 70th,” he said to Tempo on October 11.

The professor also cited the Bloomberg Resilience Index that ranked Indonesia in 53rd position on July 28, which is among the bottom ranks. But it has gradually improved to 49th in September 28.

However, he asserted that the rating system did not align with the Covid-19 deaths logged by John Hopkins University which in September showed that Indonesia as the 20 countries most affected by the pandemic. The October 9's data showed Indonesia’s fatality rate or observed case-fatality ratio (CFR) at 3.4 percent from the total number of cases.

Other ASEAN countries have logged far lower fatality rates; Vietnam (2.4 percent), the Philippines (1.5 percent), Malaysia (1.2 percent), and Thailand (1.0 percent). India has also logged a lower fatality rate with 1.3 percent.

Read: Jakarta Logs 140 New Covid-19 Cases, 0.8 Percent Positivity Rate

MOH KHORY ALFARIZI