VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The Task Force for Handling COVID-19 said the development of the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic in 13 priority provinces showed good results with general data that these provinces could control the addition of positive cases.

"The 13 priority provinces have been able to control the addition of weekly positive cases. However, what remains a big challenge is controlling the addition of weekly death cases. Strive for early handling of COVID-19 patients so that the potential for recovery will be higher," said the Spokesperson for the Handling Task Force. COVID-19 Prof. Wiku Adisasmito in a press release received in Jakarta, Friday.

The 13 priority provinces for handling COVID-19 are North Sumatra, DKI Jakarta, West Java, Central Java, East Java, South Kalimantan, South Sulawesi, Papua, Bali, Aceh, West Sumatra, Riau, and East Kalimantan.

"Priority provinces are seen from various aspects, such as the number of active cases, cure rates, deaths, and conditions in their respective regions," said Wiku.

There are several provinces that have received records because of an increase in the number of cases in the ratio 19-25 October 2020 with 26 October-1 November 2020.

Judging from the positive cases, there are three provinces that have experienced an increase, namely Papua up 8.2 percent, West Sumatra up 7.8 percent, and North Sumatra up 2.9 percent.

In a comparison of cases of death, six provinces experienced an increase in the mortality rate, namely in Papua up 350 percent, followed by South Sulawesi 120 percent, East Kalimantan 27.3 percent, North Sumatra 17.6 percent, Aceh up 5.6 percent, and West Sumatra increased. 2.7 percent.

"This is quite an alarming figure," said Wiku.

Wiku also expressed his appreciation for the provinces that reduced the addition of weekly cases and deaths, such as Aceh (-67.5 percent), Riau (-32.6 percent), and Bali (-32.5 percent).

Meanwhile, the regions that reduced the increase in the mortality rate were West Java (-65 percent), Bali (-34.6 percent), and DKI Jakarta (-19.7 percent).

Meanwhile, if we look at the development of cumulative cases from the start of the pandemic to the present, several provinces have experienced various developments.

In the trend of death cases, regions such as North Sumatra, DKI Jakarta, Central Java, East Java, South Sulawesi, Papua, Aceh, and West Sumatra show a decreasing trend in the percentage of deaths.

Provinces with an increasing trend in the percentage of weekly deaths, including West Java, South Kalimantan, Bali, Riau, and East Kalimantan.

"The steepest increase occurred in East Kalimantan, which was originally 1.49 percent on September 27, to 3.42 percent on November 1," said Wiku.

Bali must also pay attention to the percentage of cases of death, which was originally 2.97 percent on September 27 to 3.29 percent on November 1.

"Even though more people have experienced a decline, the trend of death cases still needs to be a major concern so that there are no deaths at all," said Wiku.

Each province is asked to increase the number of daily testing (inspection) and tracing, because it solves reduce the percentage of deaths.

The recovery trend for COVID-19 patients in 13 priority provinces is showing good results. Wiku said that all priority provinces continued to experience improvement in recovery between 27 September 2020 and 1 November 2020.

"The highest recovery trend was in South Sulawesi, from 74.06 percent on 27 September, to 90.09 percent on 1 November. This is a fairly high increase," he explained.

In addition, North Sumatra also shows a good recovery trend, from 64.19 percent previously on September 27 to 81.66 percent on November 1.

In Papua, especially Jayapura City have the highest mortality rate, while they recorded the percentage of recoveries as of September 27 at 62.8 percent, however, as of November 1, it decreased to 51.31 percent.

"For provinces that show a declining trend of recovery, please really improve the quality of their health services and ask the public to get checked out if they experience symptoms of COVID-19," said Wiku. (Antaranews)