VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Mar. 9 - Deputy Health Minister Dante Saksono Harbuwono highlighted the government’s continued efforts to strengthen the process of contact tracing for COVID-19 cases in order to reduce the fatality rate.

"By expanding contact tracing, we are optimistic that the fatality rate would decrease. Why is it going down? This is because the patient's stage can be known early and he can be treated on time, and no death will occur," Harbuwono remarked at the 2021 National Disaster Mitigation Coordination Meeting held here on Tuesday.

Intensifying contact tracing can aid in increasing the finding of confirmed cases, as the government is actively looking for cases of people not exhibiting symptoms.

"However, by expanding contact tracing, we are optimistic that the fatality rate would decrease," he affirmed.

Nonetheless, the minister admitted to it being a challenge since Indonesia had yet to achieve the WHO-recommended contact tracing ratio at around 1-30.

Indonesia has some 637 laboratories spread nationwide that use PCR testing to confirm cases.

"However, we have to expand this (tracing) with (the cooperation of) several laboratories, so that the coverage increases," he emphasized.

Harbuwono drew attention to the government’s unwavering efforts to boost the testing, tracing and treatment (3T) processes to better address the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The community must implement 3M (wearing masks, washing hands, and physical distancing) as an active strategy in the efforts to reduce the number of COVID-19 positive cases, while the government has the responsibility of implementing 3T," he stated. (Antaranews)