Jakarta – The national COVID-19 task force says in general COVID-19 handling in 10 prioritized provinces is showing good results, but it highlighted that three provinces needed special attention.
The 10 provinces prioritized for COVID-19 handling are DKI Jakarta, West Java, Central Java, East Java, Bali, South Kalimantan, South Sulawesi, North Sumatra, Banten and Papua.
"We need to give extra attention to Central Java, Papua and Bali," said task force spokesperson Wiku Adisasmito in a statement published on the task force website on Thursday.
Based on weekly evaluations during two weeks on Sept. 27, Oct. 4 and Oct.11. Central Java and Papua had recorded an increase in new COVID-19 cases and a decrease in recovered patients. While Bali recorded an increase in deaths in the past two weeks.
For Central Java, during the two weeks from Sept. 27 to Oct.11 the percentage of active cases increased from 22.49 to 23.94 percent. Recoveries decreased from 71.09 to 70.35 percent. Fatalities decreased from 6.42 to 5.71 percent.
Then in Papua, there was a significant increase in the percentage of active cases from 35.7 to 43.3 percent, while a 62.8 percent recovery rate decreased to 55.21 percent. The percentage of deaths fluctuated from 1.34 percent on Sept. 27 up to 1.52 percent on Oct. 4 and down to 1.44 percent on Oct. 11.
In Papua, Wiku explained, an increase in active cases and a decrease in recoveries, apart from being caused by local transmission, could be due to contact tracing, specimen examination or testing and inadequate health services or treatment.
"In addition, many patients go to the hospital with severe symptoms, this causes the treatment to be less effective and reduces the patient's chances of recovery," he explained.
The death rate in Bali keeps increasing. On Sept. 27, the death rate in Bali was 2.97 percent, then it increased to 3.11 percent on Oct. 4, before reaching the current 3.17 percent, Wiku further said, expressing concern over the matter.
To lower the death rate, Wiku urged the provincial administrations to increase the quality of referral hospitals and emergency hospitals assigned to treat COVID-19 patients as well as self-isolation facilities for residents.
"We must do it to reduce the fatality rate," he said. "To the Balinese people, we urge you to immediately get yourself a medical check-up if you have any COVID-19 symptoms, so that you can get treatment as soon as possible," Wiku said.
Bali's cumulative figures as of Thursday show 10,513 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 340 fatalities, according to data from the Health Ministry.
As of Thursday, Indonesia's nationwide death toll has reached 12,268, or an average mortality rate of 3.5 percent, with 349,160 cases.
Meanwhile, active cases from the 10 prioritized provinces on Sept. 27 accounted for 67.62 percent of the national cases. However, on Oct. 4 it decreased to 66.38 percent, then on Oct. 11, it decreased to 65.64 percent.
"This is good news, and we need to step up efforts so that the number of active COVID-19 cases in these provinces can be pushed down further," Wiku said.
As of Sept. 27, COVID-19 deaths from these 10 provinces contributed 80.18 percent to the national tally. On Oct. 4 the percentage decreased to 79.18 percent and on Oct. 11 it continued to decline to 78.71 percent. (iwa)