Packed Crowd Remained the Main Source of Coronavirus Infection
People should not reduce their alertness in facing the COVID-19 pandemic because the pandemic is not shown any sign of abating.
By
AHMAD ARIF
·5 minutes read
JAKARTA, KOMPAS – People should not reduce their alertness in facing the COVID-19 pandemic because the pandemic is not shown any sign of abating. Rather, the number of daily positive cases has increased. Indoor activities and packed crowd are still the main source of coronavirus infections.
“Packed crowds, whatever the causes are, increases the risk of infection. So, people should be reminded to avoid crowds, aside from high risk indoor activities,” Indonesian Medical Association (IDI) COVID-19 task force head Zubairi Djoerban said on Sunday (22/11/2020) in Jakarta.
Religious activity that creates a packed crowd has the potential to turn into an infection cluster. Of-fice activities, dormitories, as well as closed and crowded indoor settings are also a main source of coronavirus infection.
“Activities in dormitories, including pesantren (Islamic boarding school), have the highest risk because of the crowded situation. According to a report from West Java, there are 203 cases in Kuningan and 70 cases in Tasikmalaya; all in pesantren. This situation should become our main consideration before opening school. The risk is huge, particularly in boarding schools,” Zubairi said.
According to a report from the Health Ministry, as of November 21 there were 1,599 COVID-19 clusters in Indonesia. The four newest clusters include the gathering to welcome Islam Defenders Front (FPI) leader Rizieq Shihab. Next is at a pesantren in Cibeureum district, Tasikmalaya city; Cirebon coal-fired power plant; and a coffee shop in Pontianak.
Activities in dormitories, including pesantren (Islamic boarding school), have the highest risk because of the crowded situation.
The Health Ministry’s acting director general of disease prevention and control, Muhammad Budi Hidayat, explained that 50 people who attended Rizieq’s welcome ceremony in Tebet, South Jakarta were confirmed to have COVID-19. 30 people who participates in the event at Petamburan, West Jakarta are also infected. 15 people who attend the event in Megamendung, West Java are still waiting for their swab test result.
“The Health Ministry urges everyone who attend those events or having close contact with participants of the events to conduct self-isolation for 14 days,” Budi said.
Meanwhile, Jakarta’s Health Agency data shows that offices dominate COVID-19 cluster. Until last week, there were three office clusters in Jakarta, and the number of cases in each cluster was 45 ac-tive cases, 7 active cases, and 10 active cases. Moreover, there were 300 people from these clusters listed as “under observation” by the Health Ministry.
In the Finance Ministry, there were two active cases and 83 people under observation. Meanwhile, in the Forestry and Environment Ministry there were two clusters, which include 2 active cases with 5 people under observation and 5 active cases with 19 people under observation.
Other cases are found in religious activity clusters; the newest is seven active cases at a Takziah in Kemanggisan subdistrict, Palmerah district, West Jakarta. Other cases occur in traditional market, dormitory, and prison.
Iceberg phenomenon
Zubairi said that COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia is like an iceberg phenomenon due to lack of test-ing and tracing. The iceberg phenomenon also makes the population to be complacent, as they do not know the actual risk and magnitude of the pandemic.
“The number of tests has been increased to, on average, 30,000 people per day as instructed by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo a few months ago. The test target should be increased further to a minimum of 50,000 to 100,000 per day,” Zubairi told reporter.
According to the COVID-19 task force data, on November 22 the number of positive cases increased by 4,360 cases. Consequently, the number of total cases upped to 497,668 cases with 64,502 people in suspected cases list. Meanwhile, the number of fatality rose by 110 cases to 15,884 people.
These additional cases were found after checking the specimens of 26,535 people, which brought up the positivity ratio to 16.4 percent. Sunday’s positivity ratio is higher than the latest weekly average at 12.8 percent. This number is higher than the maximum positivity rate recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) at 5 percent.
The Jakarta Provincial Administration has decided to extend the implementation of transitional large scale social restrictions (PSBB) for 14 days, specifically from November 23 to December 6. It is be-cause in the past two weeks there had been significant increase in the number of active cases.
“In accordance with Gubernatorial Decree No. 1100/2020, the provincial administration has decided to extend transitional PSBB to anticipate the recent increase in COVID-19 cases,” Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan said.
According to Anies, the Jakarta administration could reimplement the “emergency brake” policy if the increase in active cases possess significant risk on the province’s health services. The number of daily positive cases in Jakarta has reached a new record at 1,579 cases on November 21.
According to epidemiology data, Anies added, the pandemic was still under control in the past two weeks. “But we need to remain alert and become more discipline in implementing health protocol,” Anies said. (HLN)