Around 70 Percent of Indonesia’s Covid-19 Patients Have Mild Symptoms

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – Approximately seven in every 10 Covid-19 cases in Indonesia report mild symptoms, according to data gathered by the National Covid-19 Task Force.

Many of these patients were also unaware that they were carriers of the novel coronavirus.

Spokesperson for the National Covid-19 Task Force Achmad Yurianto said, “Based on data that we’ve gathered, nearly 70 percent of Covid-19 cases report mild symptoms, which we commonly brush aside as not being sick. It would be as if I were to occasionally cough or have a mild fever."

Read also: What's Fuelling the Rise in Indonesia's Covid-19 Cases?

Polymerase chain reaction tests or the antibody rapid tests are the easiest ways to determine whether an individual has been infected by the Covid-19 virus.

Individuals who have been infected by the Covid-19 virus are required to undergo self-isolation for 14 days.

Read also: RS Siloam Offers Affordable Coronavirus Testing for Indonesians

Self-isolation is to see which coronavirus symptoms the individual has.

“14 days is the incubation period for the Covid-19 virus, which means that you may be infected today, but the symptoms appear on the 14th day. If within those 14 days the individual shows no signs of coronavirus symptoms, then it is certain that the person does not have the virus,” said Achmad Yurianto during a talkshow June 20.

Latest numbers

As of June 20, the Indonesian government has recorded an additional 1,226 new Covid-19 cases, rounding out the total number of Covid-19 cases to 45,029.

Nearly 18,000 patients have recovered from the Covid-19 virus while over 2,400 people have died from the disease.

This week, Indonesia managed to surpass Singapore in the total number of Covid-19 cases.

Read also: Indonesia’s Covid-19 Cases Officially Highest in ASEAN

Among neighbors in ASEAN, Indonesia is also leading in terms of Covid-19 fatality rate.

The average fatality rate for other Southeast Asian countries is 2.7 percent whereas Indonesia’s rate stands at 5.6 percent.

Australia extends a helping hand

Australia will aid Indonesia’s fight against the coronavirus pandemic by providing AUD $6.2 million or around Rp 61 billion to the World Health Organization (WHO).

The financial support aims to strengthen labs across Indonesia, collect and use health information as well as protect patients and healthcare workers.

Read also: Australia’s Rp 61 Billion Plan to Aid Indonesia’s Coronavirus Pandemic Fight

WHO will also work with Indonesia for the next two years to improve national policies and procedures to better respond to public health emergencies.

Australia and WHO will offer additional support to ensure that health and humanitarian needs are met so as to protect the most vulnerable groups. 

(Writer: Haryanti Puspa Sari | Editor: Sandro Gatra) 

Source: https://nasional.kompas.com/read/2020/06/20/18043151/pemerintah-70-persen-pasien-covid-19-minim-keluhan-merasa-tidak-sakit