The Newest Report about COVID-19 in Indonesia

It has been a couple of months since COVID-19 started spreading. COVID-19 is the issue that the
whole world is currently facing, including Indonesia. It really is a global emergency. According to
Jakarta Globe id, Indonesia reported 330 new confirmed cases of coronavirus infection in the
last 24 hours on Saturday, the second highest rise in a day. The cases is increasing and getting
worse by the fact that fatalities continue to beat the number of patients recovering from this
pandemic.The disease continues to spread due to a lack of discipline among the people to
observe physical distancing and to wash their hands more often.
The country of more than 272 million people is also lacking of extensive tests. Only close to
20,000 tests have been conducted so far.

The outbreak has now affected all 34 provinces across the archipelago, after Gorontalo in the
northern part of Sulawesi island reported its first confirmed case on Thursday. Jakarta, the
epicenter of the Indonesian outbreak, has 1,984 confirmed cases. South Sulawesi has 178 cases,
the highest outside provinces on most-densely-populated Java island. It even has more cases
than Central Java, which reported 144 confirmed cases. Less than three weeks after recording
its first case, Indonesia had 369 confirmed cases and 32 deaths. Jakarta, a city of 10 million
people, had 215 confirmed infections and 18 deaths. While coronavirus cases and deaths are
rising in much of Southeast Asia, Indonesia's population of 260 million people, sprawling
landmass and creaking healthcare system make it especially vulnerable.

Without large-scale testing, contact tracing and quarantine measures, the opportunity for
spread of this virus is great. The World Health Organization has said mass testing is the most
effective way of tackling the coronavirus. Indonesia had tested only 1,898 people as of Friday,
or around seven tests per one million people, compared with more than 5,000 per million in
South Korea and more than 2,000 per million in Italy, two of the worst affected countries.

President Joko Widodo's government has increased the number of laboratories authorized to
conduct testing from only one in Jakarta to more than a dozen, including on Java island, and in
the east of Papua. Widodo said on Friday he would use "all state power"to tackle the outbreak
and that rapid testing was being launched in areas where there were cases. The ratio of the
number of dead to the number of recorded cases in Indonesia at 8.7% is among the highest in
the world – even higher than 8.3% in Italy. Medics say it is a likely indicator that cases have
gone undetected.

Indonesia, home to the world's biggest Muslim population, saw mass Islamic Friday prayers in
some areas, even as countries around the world cancel large gatherings. Jakarta has suspended
religious activities, including Friday prayers and Christian services, for two weeks.
Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan, declaring the state of emergency, said that bars, spas and
cinemas would be shut from Monday and public transport limited. "Our response capability has
a limit because the numbers of hospitals and staff are not in line with the growth of cases,"he
said.
Widodo's government has also faced criticism for withholding information. The health ministry
announced the results of some patientscoronavirus status only after their deaths.Achmad
Yurianto, a health ministry official, defended government efforts and denied the response had
been late. He said data indicated only 600,000-700,000 people were at risk from the virus and
authorities were monitoring the rate of increase. "The more we actively look, the more the
numbers will rise,"he told , adding that one million test kits had been prepared.

However, we don't know yet when and how this pandemic will stop spreading, so in order to
minimize the spread of the outbreak we must follow the instructions and what the government
tells us to do.