Jakarta Claims Swab Test Capacity Surpasses WHO Standard

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Head of Jakarta Health Agency Widyastuti reported that Jakarta provincial administration is capable of conducting 2,000-3,000 swab tests a day. The figure has surpassed the standard set by the World Health Organization (WHO) at 1,500 daily tests.

“Jakarta has exceeded the target determined by the WHO,” said Widyastuti in a meeting with the Jakarta Legislative Council (DPRD) Commission E in Central Jakarta, Thursday, June 18.

The Assistant for Public Welfare (Kesra) to the Jakarta Secretariat, Catur Laswanto, claimed that the capital city ranked the highest in holdingswab tests among other Indonesian regions.

“[Jakarta is] the only region in Indonesia that has surpassed the WHO standard,” said Catur.

Therefore, it was not surprising that the number of COVID-19 confirmed cases in the capital was high, he explained. Catur added that the virus transmission was uncontrolled if the swab tests’ capacity was low.

“So if the number of COVID-19 cases in Jakarta is high, it is due to the high test capacity,” Catur remarked.

As of June 17, the Health Agency announced that it had carried out 223.427 swab tests using the PCR method. On June 17, Jakarta examined 4,341 people, of which 3,739 people were new cases and the rest were positive patients.

Read: Jakarta Health Agency Conducts 156,000 COVID-19  Tests

LANI DIANA WIJAYA