VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The expert team of the COVID-19 Disease Response Acceleration Task Force is eyeing to test 30 thousand specimens daily for the diagnosis of coronavirus infections.

It had earlier achieved the June target, set by President Joko Widodo, to test 20 thousand specimens daily.

"At the start of June 2020, Indonesia had achieved the targeted testing capacity of 20 thousand specimens per day. We are currently attempting to meet the World Health Organization-set criteria, as Indonesia pursues to conduct the testing of 30 thousand specimens per day," Head of the COVID-19 Task Force's Experts Team, Wiku Adisasmito, remarked during a virtual press briefing from the Presidential Palace in Jakarta, Thursday.

Specimen testing refers to the collection of samples or individual specimens exposed to COVID-19 by conducting swab testing or the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) diagnostic test.

Adisasmito also pointed to a spike in the number of COVID-19 cases in Indonesia in the past few weeks in tandem with the increase in testing capacity.
He expounded that the Task Force had continued to consistently adhere to President Widodo's instructions to expand testing, tracing, and treatment measures.

Until Wednesday (July 15), the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Indonesia had reached 80,094, with 39,050 patients having recovered, and 3,797 succumbing to the disease. The government has forecast COVID-19 transmission to peak in Indonesia in August or September 2020.

Furthermore, he pointed out that the incidence rate in Indonesia was 30 per 100 thousand citizens. Incidence rate refers to the disease frequency or new cases among community members in a certain area.

"With a population of 267 million citizens, the cumulative incidence rate for Indonesia is 30 per 100 thousand population," he added. (ANTARA)