Jakarta Hospital Notes Link Between Rising Covid-19 Cases and New Strains

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – The recent discovery of the new Covid-19 strain named SARS-CoV-2 in Great Britain, and the country’s increasing isolation from the rest of the world in the wake of its disclosure, made medical practitioners in Indonesia and around the world sit up and take notice.

These include Jakarta’s PGI Cikini hospital, which have treating been more than its fair share of Covid-19 cases alongside other hospitals. The PGI Cikini announced that it might have found evidence of how the new Covid-19 strain works.

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“Our experiences in dealing with Covid-19 cases have showed that the coronavirus’ characteristics changed as the number of [Covid-19] cases increased,” said PGI Cikini Medical Director Inolyn Panjaitan on Monday, December 21.

“This is particularly the case following the formation of clusters after holidays or gatherings. Our tests showed that if a certain medication is used to treat Covid-19, the coronavirus became immune to the medication.”

Inolyn urged the public to stay at home during the Christmas and New Year’s holidays to break the chain of infection,. "We advice the public to do so, not because we are opposed to holidays, but to ensure that the cases do not increase or change.”

She also urged the public to comply with health protocols such as washing hands, maintaining social distancing and wearing masks to mitigate coronavirus numbers in Jakarta and the rest of Indonesia.

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Meanwhile, the number of Covid-19 fatalities in Indonesian has increased to 20,085, after 205 people died from Covid-19 as of Monday, 21 December. The fatalities are among the 671,778 Covid-19 cases which was detected in Jakarta last March.

Another 546,884 recovered from Covid-19, after 5,703 people were given a clean bill of health. On the other hand, Indonesia has about 104,809 active cases, while 67,509 others are suspected of carrying Covid-19.

(Writers: Deti Mega Purnamasari, Haryanti Puspa Sari | Editor : Bayu Galih)

Sources: 

https://nasional.kompas.com/read/2020/12/21/22004921/rs-pgi-cikini-setiap-ada-peningkatan-kasus-covid-19-sifat-virus-bisa-berubah. 

https://nasional.kompas.com/read/2020/12/21/16395021/update-bertambah-6848-kasus-covid-19-di-indonesia-capai-671778?page=all#page2.