Indonesia will become the epicenter of Covid

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The Executive Board of the Indonesian Doctors Association (PB IDI) said Indonesia could become the world's epicenter of COVID-19 because of uncontrolled transmission.

IDI highlighted the increase in the number of cases which is increasing every day, the death toll continues to increase, including hundreds of medical workers.

“Indonesia hasn't even reached the peak of the first wave of the pandemic. This pandemic is due to massive indiscipline to health protocols. If this continues, Indonesia will become the epicenter of COVID-19 in the world, "said the Head of the IDI Mitigation Team, dr. Adib Khumaidi, in his press release to reporters.

What is the possibility of Indonesia becoming the epicenter of world COVID-19 transmission?

Adib asked the public to follow the COVID-19 prevention health protocol more strictly. Do not let the cases of COVID-19 transmission worsen and make Indonesia the epicenter of COVID-19 in the world.

He said that if the community does not comply with 3M (wearing masks, maintaining distance, and washing hands) it will cause uncontrolled cases of transmission and result in the collapse of the health system.

Could Indonesia be the epicenter of COVID-19? What caused the health system to collapse in dealing with COVID-19?

Indonesian epidemiologist dr. Panji Hadisoemarto explains this possibility.

"How can Indonesia become the epicenter? Access has been closed by other countries. So just keep quiet, that's the case, "said dr. Panji to Hello Sehat, Monday (21/9). Currently, at least 60 countries prohibit Indonesians from entering their territory because they are considered to have great potential to become a source of transmission.

Being the epicenter of COVID-19 transmission means being the area with the most cases and centers of transmission to other areas. Epicenter is not a term in public health, but a term used when Wuhan became the center of transmission of COVID-19 to various regions of the world.

Whether Indonesia is the epicenter of COVID-19 transmission or not, according to Panji, an increase in cases is very likely to occur. The worsening of the COVID-19 pandemic situation in Indonesia will almost certainly occur if there are no major breakthroughs to tackle the pandemic.

COVID-19 Outbreak updates Country: IndonesiaData

1,024,298

Confirmed

831,330

Recovered

28,855

DeathDistribution Map

A breakthrough that should be made with the current conditions?

The collapse of the Indonesian health system in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic is not only seen from the number of hospitals that are full. But tracking capabilities (tracing) and testing capacity (testing) is done to find new cases as quickly as possible before there is more transmission.

If Jakarta is used as a benchmark, it can be seen that the ratio of the number of tests and cases found is still far from sufficient. Because handling is not only doing as many tests as possible, but also tracking the transmission.

"Do as many tests as possible and find as many cases as possible, then isolate and quarantine. If the number of tests is like this, the number of tracking is like this, then obviously it will get worse, ”said dr. Banner.

Currently, Jakarta carries out an average of 8,000 tests per day with the addition of 1,000 new cases. Nationally, Indonesia in the past week has experienced an increase in cases of almost 4,000 per day with the number of testing around 20-30 thousand.

"I wish we were lockdown since March, we still have a lot of capital and manpower. If lockdown Now it will be more complicated, because looking at other contexts, because the economy is getting choked up, there are more cases, many medical officers have collapsed, ”said Panji when asked how concrete steps should be taken at this time.

"The main breakthrough that can be done the most is the first intention, what do you really want to do? Because I see that currently the main objective is not to control the epidemic, ”he said.

The community must be responsible for themselves and those around them by preventing the transmission of COVID-19.

But on the other hand the most important control is the action of the government to carry out testing, tracing, and banning unnecessary mass gathering activities.

"Do it first which can reduce the risk of transmission as little as possible, then the rest can do activities," said Panji.