Covid-19 Cases Under Control Post Eid Holidays, Task Force Claims

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Indonesian Covid-19 task force spokesperson Wiku Adisasmito in a virtual press conference on Tuesday claims cases remained under control for the past week following the Eid al-Fitr prolonged collective holidays. He explains that daily coronavirus cases were logged below 1,000 cases despite the mass exodus this year that saw thousands traveling to their hometowns across Indonesia.

The task force has monitored eight provinces that are considered to be the main destinations in the 2022 mass exodus or mudik - which was suspended in the past two years due to Covid concerns - that comprises; Central Java, West Java, East Java, Jakarta, Yogyakarta, Lampung, North Sumatra, and West Sumatra.

"During the week, Covid-19 cases in eight homecoming destinations saw various developments for recovery cases, mortality rate, active cases, and BOR (bed occupancy rate). Weekly positive cases in all provinces decreased," Wiku explained. 

In the week preceding the Eid al-Fitr, the region logging the most number of Covid-19 cases was Jakarta with 519 cases while West Sumatra logged only 6 cases. This reduction in general cases aligns with the recovery rate from every Indonesian province that logged over 90 percent. 

Hospital bed occupancy rate also saw a significant drop with an average ranging from 0.35 percent up to 2.71 percent. However, these seemingly positive results are also a byproduct of the reduced number of tests that only saw 300,000 administered across the country which is a contrast to March - amid Omicron variant spread - logged 1 million PCR tests. 

Read: COVID-19 Cases in Indonesia Remain Low after Eid al-Fitr: Luhut

M JULNIS FIRMANSYAH