COVID-19 Task Force: Epidemiology, Surveillance, Health Services Are 3 Health Indicators

Spokesperson for Covid-19 Task Force during a press conference at the Presidential Office, Jakarta, few days ago.

Epidemiology, public health surveillance and public health services are three indicators of public health, according to Spokesperson for the COVID-19 Task Force Wiku Adisasmito.

According to him, the development of active cases of COVID-19 in Indonesia so far has been lower than that of the global average.

As of 25 August 2020, he said Indonesia has reported 38,134 active cases (24.1%), while the global percentage stands at 28.35% on average.

Of the number of recovered cases, Indonesia’s figure stands at 112,867 cases (71.5%), while the global average figure stands at 68.19%.

“Meanwhile, the number of death cases in Indonesia is 6,858 or 4.34%, while the percentage of deaths globally is at 3.44%; thus, Indonesia’s number of deaths is still higher than that of the cases globally on average,” Wiku said, Tuesday (25/8).

Wiku also pointed out another good news that in the last few days there has been a decline of positive cases albeit not significant and the recovery rate in the last few days has also been on the rise.

Based on the data, Wiku explained that the peak of cases was on 24 August with the number of recovery cases reaching 3,560 cases and in the last three weeks the figure has tripled.

“This needs to be appreciated,” he said

On that occasion, he also explained the Risk Zone Map for the spread of the pandemic.

“All of these indicators are based on recording data in which the source is surveillance data and an online hospital database recorded by Ministry of Health. This is the best source of data that we have,” Wiku said.

After being calculated and scored, he added, the risk zone is divided into four colors. The color chosen is based on the color of disasters which is commonly used to identify regional risks and also based on recommendations from the WHO.

The risk zones are high risk zones or red zones with the scores of 0 – 1.80, the medium risk zones or orange zones are those with the scores of 1.81 – 2.40; the low risk zones or yellow zones are those with scores of 2.41 – 3.0, and no case zones or green zones with no positive cases or there have been cases but no new cases in the last four weeks and a 100% recovery rate.

For the number of testing per national per person, Indonesia has so far only reached 35.6% of the WHO standard.

Indonesia, he added, is said to be following the standards set by the WHO, which is ideally 1: 1000 people per week. As for Indonesia with a population of 260 million people, the target is 267,700 people per week.

Indonesia also continues to meet the WHO standards and the country has reached the number of national testing of 95,463 people per week, Wiku said.

“The figure is still far from international standards. The Indonesian Government has been making efforts to meet the target. There are currently 320 laboratories under 12 institutions, all of which are working hard to improve testing properly,” he continued.

Regarding vaccine, Wiku said it will be mass-produced after passing phase 3 the clinical trials and give good results by providing good immunity to human beings. State-owned pharmacy company Bio Farma has embarked on collaboration with China’s Sinovac to develop the Red and White vaccine, he added.

“Indonesia has also been working with Sinopharm to conduct phase 3 the clinical trials conducted by China National Biotec Group and the test was held with the United Arab Emirates alliance through the Abu Dhabi-based company G42 Healthcare,” he explained.

Wiku further said that the United Arab Emirates was chosen because there are 85 nationalities in the country and is expected to represent various ethnicities in the world.

The Indonesian Government, he added, has also talked with Chinese company Cansino who holds a patent for the technology for making COVID-19 vaccine. The company is also conducting phase 3 clinical trials in various countries and further trials are expected to be carried out in Indonesia. (Communication Team of the COVID-19 Working Committee / EN)

Translated by: Estu Widyamurti
Reviewed by: M. Ersan Pamungkas