Covid-19 Cases Surge in 10 Indonesian Provinces

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – The Committee for the Handling of Covid-19 and National Economic Recovery [KPC PEN] has warned Indonesia to brace itself for a surge in Covid-19 cases after the Eid al-Fitr or Idul Fitri holidays.

The Committee issued the warning, after it noted an increase in active coronavirus cases on 10 provinces.

KPC PEN chairman Airlangga Hartarto said the cases are spread in provinces on Java, Sulawesi and Sumatra, as well as other islands.

“The provinces experiencing this surge in Covid-19 cases are Aceh, North Sumatra, the Riau Islands, Jakarta, as well as South Sulawesi and Gorontalo,” added Airlangga, who is also the Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs on Monday.

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“Other stricken provinces included West Nusa Tenggara, North Kalimantan, Maluku and North Maluku.”

He added that Indonesia needs to beware of the potential surge in active Covid-19 cases within the next four or five weeks. “The number of active Covid-19 cases nationwide stands at 5.32 percent as of May 23, 2021, or about 5000 cases a day over the past four days,” he said.

“The surge in Covid-19 cases after the Idul Fitri holidays can be seen this week. We can expect that number to steadily go up into the following week,” he said.

“This is up from 3800 to 4000 in previous weeks.” He attributed the surge to the aftereffects of the Eid al-Fitr or Idul Fitri holidays two weeks ago.

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Airlangga based his estimates on a spike in Covid-19 numbers after the Christmas and New Year’s holidays, as the government noted a surge in coronavirus cases on February 5, more than a month after New Year’s Day.

Deputy Minister for Health Dante Saksono Harbuwono reiterated Airlangga. He noted that the movement of people or clusters that occurred after the holidays is not the only reason for the increasing number of cases.

“The presence of the B.1.1.7, B.1.6.17, and B.1.351 Covid-19 mutations in Indonesia might contribute to the surging number of cases,” he warned.

“The government has noted at least 54 Covid-19 cases from these three variants of concern. 35 of them originated from outside Indonesia, while 19 of them are locally transmitted in Indonesia.”

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Airlangga said the government plans to extend micro-scale Enforced Restriction of Community Activities [PPKM] throughout Indonesia’s 34 provinces to prevent a surge of Covid-19 cases.