Indonesia’s Situation Can Get as Bad as India’s

KOMPAS/RONY ARIYANTO NUGROHO

Traffic congestion on Jalan Gunung Batu, Panaragan, Bogor City, West Java, during work hours, Thursday (29/4/2021). Increased activity of residents due to the assumption that they are heading to a normal phase by some groups has made the Covid-19 case in Bogor City soar again.

JAKARTA, KOMPAS – A second wave of Covid-19, which is now hitting India, could also occur in Indonesia if there is negligence in the use of health and surveillance protocols, especially testing and tracing. The loosening of the quarantine requirements imposed on foreign travelers and fraudulent antigen tests could also trigger a resurgence of Covid-19 cases in the country.

The spokesperson for the Covid-19 task force, Wiku Adisasmito, said the death rate due to Covid-19 in Indonesia had declined to 2.7 percent, and the figure had not changed for more than two months, or since early February. The 10 provinces recording the highest increase in daily cases in April 2021 include Riau, West Sumatra, Bangka Belitung Islands, Banten and West Kalimantan.

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A virologist from Udayana University in Bali, I Gusti Ngurah Kade Mahardika, noted in a virtual discussion in Jakarta on Thursday (29/4/2021) that negligence in compliance with health protocols was the main factor triggering the resurgence of new Covid-19 cases in India. "Crowds during religious or political ceremonies make the coronavirus spread more widely," he said at the discussion titled "Learning from India".

In addition, there is a new variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in India, namely B.1.617. Over the past four weeks, this variant accounted for 60 percent of the coronavirus infections logged in India. The second wave of a pandemic, such as the one during the 1918 Spanish flu outbreak, can be bigger than the first wave.

AP PHOTO/MAHESH KUMAR A

People line up to buy medicine at a pharmacy in Hyderabad, India, Thursday, April 29, 2021. With India’s surge exploding, people are resorting to medical treatments that have not been approved internationally for COVID-19, causing shortages and booming black markets. Drugs such as hydroxychloroquine, which the WHO has strongly recommended not be used for coronavirus, are being used by desperate patients.

The lesson to be learned from the situation in India is that the explosion of new cases has triggered a sharp increase in the death rate. "We must never be careless, if we don’t want to experience the same as India," he said.

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The chairman of the Association of Indonesian Public Health Experts, Ede Surya Darmawan, reminded residents to adhere to health rules. Recent surveys indicate that there is a decline in discipline in following health protocols.

Mohammad Agoes Aufiya, an Indonesian student in New Delhi, India, said the latest report showed that the daily cases and the death rate in India had hit new record highs in the last 24 hours.

We must never be careless, if we don’t want to experience the same as India.

Antigen tests

Dicky Budiman, an Indonesian epidemiologist at Griffith University, said that, apart from discipline in complying with health protocols, an explosion of Covid-19 cases could be prevented by strengthening surveillance efforts, especially testing and tracing. "Our surveillance is worrying, especially since the disclosure of the use of used antigen test kits in North Sumatra. This is the first scandal in the world, which endangers the safety of citizens, "he said.

KOMPAS/NIKSON SINAGA

North Sumatra Regional Police Chief Inspector General RZ Panca Putra Simanjuntak (front, second from left) explains the results of an investigation regarding the reuse of used Covid-19 antigen swab test kits at the Kimia Farma Laboratory at Kualanamu Airport, Medan, North Sumatra, Thursday (29/4/2021).

The North Sumatra Police have named five suspects over the usage of used Covid-19 antigen test kits at the Kimia Farma laboratory at Kualanamu Airport. The suspects are believed to have used the used antigen test kits since December 2020 on about 30,000 people. They earned about Rp 1.8 billion from the fraudulent antigen tests.

"We are continuing the investigation," North Sumatra Police chief Inspector General RZ Panca Putra Simanjuntak said in Medan. Police believe the manager of the Kimia Farma laboratory located on Jl. RA Kartini, Medan, PM (45), is the mastermind behind the crime, which allegedly involved a registration administrator, M (30); test result administration officer, R (21); janitor, DJ (20); and courier, SR (19).

In his response to the antigen kit scandal, Doni Monardo, the head of the Covid-19 task force, asked the executives of PT Kimia Farma Diagnostik to strengthen monitoring on the use of the antigen swab test kits at Kualanamu Airport, Medan, North Sumatra. "We asked for assistance from the [military]," Doni said following the task force’s coordination meeting in Cirebon, West Java.

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"We hope that those who have undergone swab tests at Kualanamu report to the regional (Covid-19) task force, so that they can be retested. We are worried that transmission occurs because of the negligence of the officers, "he said.

The Covid-19 task force has also strengthened the cooperation among various agencies involved in handling Covid-19 at the airport, such as PT Angkasa Pura II, the immigration office and the port health office, so that such a practice would not happen again.

Meanwhile, the initiator of the One Million Antigen Test Solidarity for Indonesia Movement, Erry Riyana Hardjapamekas, expressed hope that the Health Ministry and the Covid-19 task force would launch a campaign encouraging people to have the courage to ask test officials. "Citizens must have the courage to ask about the novelty of the tools that are inserted into the organs of their bodies. "The officer must show it when opening the packaging of the test kits," he said. (AIK / NSA / TAM / IKI)

This article was translated by Hendarsyah Tarmizi.