Virus Transmissions Increase While Treatment Remains Limited
This concerning situation makes curbing virus transmissions even more difficult. Many new positive cases and deaths go unrecorded.
By
Kompas Team
·3 minutes read
Kompas
Avaaz activists wearing masks featuring German Chancellor Angela Merkel and US President Joe Biden stage a protest under the motto "Tear Down the Patent Wall" and "Free the Vaccine", on July 14, 2021 in front of Berlin\'s Brandenburg Gate, as Germany blocks an emergency WTO waiver to facilitate Covid-19 vaccines. - US President Joe Biden will host German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the White House in Washington on July 15, 2021.
JAKARTA, KOMPAS – The COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia has entered a new phase as virus transmissions spread in villages and remote areas, where capacities for testing, tracing and treatment are limited. This concerning situation makes curbing virus transmissions even more difficult. Many new positive cases and deaths go unrecorded.
“Whether or not micro-scale public activity restrictions [PPKM] will be continued will be announced on Aug. 2, the decision should be based on epidemiological conditions or the current status of virus transmissions and the health sector’s capacity to respond as mandated by the World Health Organization,” Tjandra Yoga Aditama, professor at the University of Indonesia’s (UI) School of Medicine and former director of infectious diseases at WHO Southeast Asia, said in Jakarta on Sunday (1/8/2021).
Iwan Ariawan, epidemiologist at UI’s Public Health School, expressed his concern over unrecorded or untreated virus infections in rural and remote areas, where many people avoid medical treatment and choose not to go to hospitals. Consequently, the rate of infections and deaths would soar even though the number of recorded cases and hospitals’ bed occupancy rate decreases.
Kompas
A nurse, left, prepares a shot of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, manufactured by the Serum Institute of India and provided through the global COVAX initiative, from a portable cold storage box, center, in Machakos, Kenya, Wednesday, March 24, 2021. AstraZeneca\'s repeated missteps in reporting vaccine data coupled with a blood clot scare could do lasting damage to the credibility of a shot that is the linchpin in the global strategy to stop the coronavirus pandemic, potentially even undermining vaccine confidence more broadly, experts say.
Dicky Budiman, an epidemiologist at Griffith University, said the risk of mortality from COVID-19 in Indonesia would swell with the increases of new cases outside Java and the trend of unrecorded deaths would rise.
“There is an indication of increasing deaths in rural areas. Those who died were not tested for COVID-19, but they experienced COVID-19 symptoms,” Dicky explained.
One village in Krian subdistrict, Sidoarjo regency, for instance, has experienced a more than tenfold increase in deaths. From 2014 to 2019, on average, three people died in this subdistrict per month. However, between 1-27 July, 2021, 34 local residents died, and only seven of them were buried under COVID-19 protocols.
Epidemiological trend
According to a Health Ministry report, Indonesia recorded 30,738 new COVID-19 cases and 1,604 deaths on Sunday (1/8). The figure was obtained from 112,661 tests, 48,955 of which were polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests. The number of tests carried out was far below the government’s target of 400,000 people per day.
To accelerate mass vaccination, the government is ensuring vaccine availability. Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi, together with Coordinating Human Development and Culture Minister Muhadjir Effendy, oversaw the arrival of 3.5 million doses of Moderna vaccines and 620,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines in Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, Tangerang, on Sunday (1/8). These two vaccines were secured following Indonesia’s bilateral partnership with the United States and the United Kingdom.
KEMENTERIAN LUAR NEGERI RI
Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi.
“Partnership mechanisms that share COVID-19 vaccines among countries is an important strategy to provide the world a way out of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Retno said.
Currently, global vaccine inequality remains widespread. This week, the rate of mass vaccination in European countries has reached 84.9 percent of the targeted population. Similarly, in the US, 82.5 percent of the population has been vaccinated. In African countries, however, vaccination has only reached 4.6 percent of the population. (INA/AIK/SKA/ONG).
(This article was translated byAstria Zahra Nabila)
