Indonesia's Covid-19 Positivity Rate 3 Times WHO Standard

TheIndonesia.id -  Indonesia's COVID-19 positivity rate has reached 18.59 percent as of February 16, 2022, which is over three times higher than the level recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO), the COVID-19 Task Force informed.

"Now, Indonesia's positivity rate at 18.59 percent and that is above the standard set by the World Health Organization (WHO), which is five percent," the task force's health support head, Alexander K. Ginting, said at a webinar on 'Strategy to Deal with the Third Wave of the Pandemic' here on Friday, February 18, 2022.

Earlier, Indonesia had managed to meet the 5-percent level from August to November 2021, he said. However, cases have skyrocketed again since the first Omicron case was detected in Indonesia in December 2021, Ginting explained.

Based on the task force's data on positivity rate per province as of February 16, 2022, Banten, Central Java, North Sulawesi, West Java, and Jakarta currently have the highest positivity rate, he informed.

The regions with high COVID-19 cases are areas that are densely populated and have adequate health infrastructure, Ginting said.

"The active cases in these areas are quite high, but the death reports due to Omicron have also happened in areas where the number of vaccinations are already quite high and have good hospital (or health facilities) infrastructure," he elaborated.

"The regions that have the highest mortality and ill cases still continue to rotate around the Java-Bali islands, such as the provinces of East Java, West Java, Central Java, Jakarta, and Bali," Ginting said.

Meanwhile, looking at the availability of Intensive Care Unit rooms, they are not as full when compared to the Delta surge and the long queues for emergency rooms seen in July 2021, he added. However, he reminded that long queues at the ER can still be seen.

"This fluctuates, and of course, it is influenced by mobility. Even though these five provinces have the highest rate of vaccinations, their mobility is also high," he explained.