Capital’s Dense Area a Battleground against Covid-19

KOMPAS/AGUS SUSANTO

The traffic in a densely populated residential area on Jalan Malaka Raya, East Jakarta, is deserted Tuesday (26/5/2020). Many residents who have lost their jobs in big cities due to the COVID-19 pandemic have chosen to wait in their hometowns before returning to find work in big cities.

The densely populated area of Jakarta has become a battleground against Covid-19. The highest increase in the number of Covid-19 confirmed cases comes from this dense area. Close monitoring of health protocols is a key.

If the effort to suppress the number of Covid-19 confirmed cases is a battle, then the densely populated area of Jakarta is a real battlefield. The call to implement health protocols without massive and tight supervision is like a war without troops.

During the six months of Covid-19 handling, the number of positive cases has slowly continued to show an upward trend in Jakarta. The rate of growth of confirmed cases corresponds with the area of Covid-19 transmission, which is also increasingly widespread.

Also read: Increasingly Alarming Facts

Until the end of last August, all municipalities in Jakarta province were included in the high-risk category or red zone. The number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 continues to grow and reach 40,000 people or around 0.4 percent of the total population in the capital city.

If we look at the area of Covid-19 transmission, the highest increase in the number of Covid-19 patients comes from densely populated areas in Jakarta. Areas such as Tanjung Priok, Tanah Abang and Tambora are part of those with the highest number of cases in the capital city.

Koja district is an area with the second-highest cumulative Covid-19 cases in Jakarta.

Koja district in North Jakarta, for example, has a population density of 25,844 people per square kilometer (km²), which is well above the average population density of Jakarta of 15,900 people per km². As of Sept. 1, 2020, 1,007 patients have tested positive for Covid-19. Koja district is an area with the second-highest cumulative Covid-19 cases in Jakarta.

A high number of cases was also recorded in Senen district, Central Jakarta. A total of 708 people there have tested positive for Covid-19 throughout the Covid-19 pandemic period. In 2019, the population density in this area was 23,122 people per km².

If you look closer at the administrative areas, most of the districts with the high number of cases are areas that also have a high population density compared to other districts.

In West Jakarta, for example, Tambora and Palmerah districts were the areas with the highest population density in 2019. These two districts also have the highest number of Covid-19 cases compared to other districts in West Jakarta, namely 875 cases in Palmerah district and 706 cases in Tambora district.

Similar conditions also occurred in the South Jakarta municipality. Tebet district, the area with the highest population density in South Jakarta (23,466 people per km²), also has a high number of cases, namely 507 cases. Tebet is the district with the second-highest number of cases after Kebayoran Lama district (556 cases).

This condition illustrates that districts with high population density are areas prone to additional positive cases of Covid-19. This is quite different from areas that have population density levels below the average density of Jakarta.

One of them is Cilandak district in South Jakarta, which has a population density of 11,210 people per km². Cilandak is the area with the lowest number of positive Covid-19 cases in South Jakarta (310 cases).

Also read: Time to Tighten Social Restrictions as Health Care at Critical Point

Similar conditions can also be found in Gambir district, the area with the lowest population density in Central Jakarta. With a population density of 10,347 people per km², Gambir is the area with the least number of positive cases compared to other districts in Central Jakarta (400 cases).

Subdistricts

A comparison between population density and the high number of positive cases of Covid-19 can also be seen at the subdistrict level. Most of the subdistricts with the highest number of Covid-19 cases in Jakarta are areas with a higher-than-average population density in the capital city.

One of the densely populated areas with the highest number of cases is Lagoa subdistrict in Koja district, North Jakarta. With a population density of 46,375 people per km², the number of positive cases of Covid-19 has reached 317 cases. Lagoa is the subdistrict with the second-highest number of positive Covid-19 cases in Jakarta.

Kompas/AGUS SUSANTO

Children walk along a narrow alley in a densely populated residential area in RW 010 neighborhood community in Kebon Baru subdistrict, Tebet, South Jakarta, on Friday (24/7/2020). Densely populated areas are prone to transmission of COVID-19. Discipline is needed at all levels to enforce COVID-19 health protocols. The government must continue to intensify the dissemination of information about health protocols.

The same thing was also recorded in Johar Baru subdistrict, Central Jakarta. With a population density of 38,999 people per km², this area is the subdistrict with the second-highest number of positive Covid-19 cases in Central Jakarta (252 cases). The area with the most cases was Cempaka Putih Barat subdistrict with a population density of 35,600 people per km². As of Sept. 1, 2020, there were 277 Covid-19 cases in the area.

This situation is quite different from other subdistricts in Jakarta, which have low population density. In Roa Malaka subdistrict, West Jakarta, for example, this subdistrict is the area with the lowest population density in Tambora district, West Jakarta (7,611 people per km²). As of Sept. 1, the number of positive patients was the lowest number in the region at four cases.

Of all subdistricts in the municipalities of Jakarta, Roa Malaka subdistrict is the area with the lowest number of positive cases. Of the four cases, three of them have recovered and one other case is still in self isolation.

The driving factor

Data on the number of positive cases per subdistrict and district released daily by the Jakarta provincial administration shows that the densely populated areas are areas with high potential as centers of Covid-19 transmission in the capital city. There are several factors driving the high number of cases in those areas.

The first is the movement of large numbers of people. In the densely populated residential areas, it is difficult to maintain a distance in every social activity. Moreover, when a house is inhabited by many people who are usually found in densely populated settlements, social restrictions are increasingly difficult to implement.

Morning or evening meetups in several locations, such as warung kopi (coffee shops) or pos ronda (neighborhood security posts), are difficult to eliminate in the midst of a pandemic.

The social habits of the community are also a factor that has contributed to the spread of Covid-19 in the densely populated areas. Morning or evening meetups in several locations, such as warung kopi (coffee shops) or pos ronda (neighborhood security posts), are difficult to eliminate in the midst of a pandemic.

In addition, less strict supervision in implementing health protocols has also contributed to the increasing number of positive cases of Covid-19. Very strict supervision was carried out at the beginning of the implementation of the large-scale social restrictions (PSBB). At that time, several areas in Jakarta applied strict supervision, from measuring body temperature to restrictions on entering and leaving a residential area.

KOMPAS/RADITYA HELABUMI

Residential areas are seen around Kampung Bandan Railway Station, Pademangan, North Jakarta, on Wednesday (22/7/2020). The densely populated areas with close interaction among residents are vulnerable spots for the new coronavirus. Continuous efforts are needed to increase citizens’ understanding of preventing the spread of COVID-19 and discipline in implementing health protocols.

However, the tight supervision did not last long. Slowly, since last May, the supervisions began to loosen up again. Activities in the dense settlements returned to normal. This situation was followed by an increasing number of positive cases in the densely populated areas across the capital city.

As of Aug. 30, there were 913 community units (RW) in Jakarta that had positive active cases of Covid-19. East Jakarta is the municipality with the most RWs that have the most active Covid-19 cases (248 RW), followed by West Jakarta (237 RW) and South Jakarta (170 RW).

In order to reduce the growth rate of Covid-19 cases in the capital city, mutual cooperation between the community and the government is needed. From the community\'s point of view, implementing health protocols such as wearing masks and maintaining distance is an absolute must.

From the government side, strict supervision in the implementation of health protocols in society is also important in order to stop the rate of increasing cases in densely populated areas in Jakarta. Without massive supervision on the ground directly, it is difficult to win the battle in the face of Covid-19.

(KOMPAS R&D)