Indonesia's Covid-19 App Detects Thousands Infected Visiting Public Places

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The PeduliLindungi app detected 3,830 people who are positive with Covid-19 visiting public places including malls, Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin revealed in a work meeting with the House of Representatives. The app tracks 'black statuses' representing people who are infected.

Tjandra Yoga Aditama, a professor of the Department of Pulmonology and Respiratory Medicine at the University of Indonesia's Faculty of Medicine, considered the movement very dangerous. "They can be sources of new contagion," he told Tempo via WhatsApp on Tuesday, September 14.

Tjandra, who was the Director of Infectious Diseases at WHO Southeast Asia from 2018 to 2020, hopes that the Health Ministry will immediately conduct tracing and tracking.

He suggested the PeduliLindungi app to have a system that connects and contact local health facilities and government administrative offices to follow up on positive cases in their areas, asking the infected to isolate, warning them—and their families—of the risks when they dont.

By system, Tjandra also suggested the PeduliLindung app to be able to provide information on how to self-isolate properly, as well as notifying other users to maintain a distance from positive people and get tested as well.

Tjandra is grateful that the number of cases in Indonesia has greatly decreased, even though the Case Fatality Rate is still high, number three on the list of 20 countries at Johns Hopkins University as of September 13, 2021.

"We must continue educating the public, especially in the context of how to respond to the Covid-19 test and its results."

Read: Deputy Gov Hopes for More Relaxed COVID-19 Restrictions

Moh Khory Alfarizi