Jakarta Health Agency: COVID-19 Rate Rising Yet Under Control

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - COVID-19 cases continued their upward trend in Jakarta over the past week due to the Arcturus variant. However, the Health Agency stated that the situation is still under control.

“The covid situation in Jakarta is under control even though the number of positive cases and deaths has increased,” said the agency’s head of the epidemiology and immunization surveillance division, Ngabila Salama, in a statement, Monday, May 1.

Ngabila explained that the sharp surge in the positivity rate indicated that many infections had not been detected in the field. The positivity rate means the percentage of people who test positive for the virus of those overall who have undergone the test.

As the case rises, the hospital bed occupancy rate (BOR) has also increased by 16 percent in the past week.

The Health Agency recorded 16 people died from the coronavirus infection in the capital. All of them were patients over 30 years of age and have not got the four-dose vaccination.

“In fact, ten of them have not been vaccinated at all,” Ngabila added.

The peak of COVID-19 cases in Jakarta was expected to occur next week, while the peak of death cases would likely be 7-14 days after the peak of positive cases. “The trend is up, the peak is predicted at next week or 6 weeks from March 23 since Arcturus was first detected,” Ngabila concluded.

AMY HEPPY

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