The number of COVID-19 positive cases in East Java has continued to see a significant increase over recent days. Based on data from the COVID-19 daily report released by the Indonesian Ministry of Health, as of Wednesday 27th May, there were 199 cases added to the total in East Java, bringing the overall cases in the province to 4,142.
This increase is the highest amongst all the Indonesia provinces. The uptick in cases even exceeded those see in DKI Jakarta, which saw 97 new cases reported on the same day. East Java has the second-highest number of positive cases after DKI Jakarta which has confirmed 6,895 people sick, whilst 2,157 people have been tested positive for COVID-19 in West Java which is in 3rd place.
Head of the COVID-19 Task Force for the Acceleration of Handling, Doni Monardo said that the high incidence of positive coronavirus cases in East Java is related to the efforts of the regional government to continue to increase mass testing of the population.
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“In the last few days, there has been an increase in the number of cases. But it is also inseparable from the efforts of the provincial government of East Java and Surabaya city to increase laboratory capacity for testing,” Doni said.
East Java Governor Khofifah Indar Parawansa attributed the surge in the number of patients in East Java to the result of the efforts of the East Java COVID-19 Task Force to Accelerate Handling. Across the region, the task force is actively conducting rapid tests and swab tests for polymerase chain reaction (PCR).
According to Khofifah, the increasing number of cases being detected will support the preparedness of all medical services to take anticipatory steps.
“With or without PSBB, if the rapid testing regime is established, swab testing is done on a massive scale, tracing is carried out progressively, then a new map will soon be anticipated so that the preparedness of all medical services can also be anticipated,” she explained.
Source: CNN Indonesia
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