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JAKARTA (JAKARTA POST / ASIA NEWS NETWORK) – Indonesia has reported the highest daily increase in Covid-19 the country has seen so far with 8,369 new cases, breaking all previous single-day records by a few thousand.
The latest increase reported on Thursday (Dec. 3) brings the total national count to 557,877 confirmed cases, of which 17,355 have ended in death, while 462,553 patients have recovered.
Papua recorded the highest jump in a day in the archipelago with 1,775 additional cases. Significant peaks were also reported in West Java and Jakarta with 1,648 and 1,153 cases, respectively.
The spokesperson for the national Covid-19 task force, Wiku Adisasmito, attributed the high figures to a delay in synchronizing real-time data between the central government and regional administrations.
“For example, Papua has reported 1,755 new cases, which is the cumulative total of positive cases recorded from November 19 to today,” Wiku said during an online press conference on Thursday.
Furthermore, he urged regional leaders to immediately report the latest Covid-19 data in their respective communities to the central government to ensure greater accuracy.
Wiku raised concerns about a reported decline in public compliance with the Covid-19 health protocol as the year draws to a close. Citing the latest government data, he said that only nine of the 512 regencies and municipalities reported adequate compliance with the rule on the use of masks.
Furthermore, only 4 percent of all regencies and municipalities in the country had reported satisfactory compliance with the physical distancing rule, he said.
“We can conclude that the recent long weekend (October 28 to November 1) was the main trigger for such a decline in public discipline,” he said.
“The public must realize that negligence can be fatal.”
Meanwhile, a study by the Eijkman-Oxford Clinical Research Unit (EOCRU) shows that Covid-19 patients in Greater Jakarta died an average of 11 days after they started having symptoms, which is faster in comparison with patients from other countries.
The study, which was carried out during the first five months of the pandemic, also revealed that the area also has the highest death rate for children under the age of five.
These conditions are caused by late detection and late hospitalization. Henry Surendra, one of the EOCRU researchers, said the study had involved 4,265 adult and child patients at 55 different Covid-19 hospitals.
The study also found that the infection pattern for patients in Jakarta reflects the condition of Covid-19 patients around the world. Most patients experience fever, cough, shortness of breath, and malaise, and more than 40 percent are diagnosed with pneumonia upon admission to hospitals.
The death rate reached 12 percent or 497 of 4,265 cases. Most of the deaths, or 78%, occurred in patients aged 50 years or older, while children 0-4 years old accounted for 11% of deaths, and people 60-69 and 70 years old accounted for 22 % and 34%, respectively.
Meanwhile, the government has decided to reduce the number of collective leave days for Christmas and New Year celebrations, including the promised days off in compensation for Idul Fitri’s lost license, to avoid further spikes in cases.
Under the new arrangements, the country will enjoy a total of eight days off, namely December 24-27 for the Christmas holidays, only December 31 for the Idul Fitri substitute license, as well as 1-3 January for the celebration of the New Year. .
As reported by kompas.com, Human Resources Minister Ida Fauziyah tested positive for Covid-19. She is the latest in a string of state officials to have contracted the disease.
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