Although the absolute count of deaths in Papua is not too high and normally increases 1, 2, 5, or 6, it suddenly rose sharply in the past week.
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Task Force for COVID-19 Response recorded a downward trend in fatalities in the past week in four priority provinces of Jakarta, Central Java, South Sulawesi, and Bali, with the highest number of cases in Indonesia.

The task force only looked at the cumulative count of deaths per week, chief of the task force's data and information technology section, Dr Dewi Nur Aisyah, stated at the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) Building here on Wednesday.

The cumulative count of fatalities is important to gauge whether the number of deaths in 10 priority provinces is very high, she explained.

Among the four priority provinces, Jakarta witnessed a relatively high mortality rate from mid to late September. However, it recorded an extraordinary decline by up to 52.4 percent in the past week, she pointed out.

Central Java also recorded a relatively good downward trend in cumulative deaths. Although the mortality rate rose in the first three weeks, it dropped up to 57.4 percent in the last week, she remarked.

South Sulawesi also reported a 46.2-percent decline in the number of deaths, while Bali's mortality rate fell slightly by 2.6 percent, she noted.

Meanwhile, the other priority provinces of West Java, East Java, South Kalimantan, Papua, and Aceh witnessed an upward trend in cumulative fatalities.

Among the five provinces, Papua reported the highest increase in the number of fatalities, at 187.5 percent; followed by 85 percent in Aceh; 29 percent in West Java; 25 percent in South Kalimantan; and 5.9 percent in East Java.

Aisyah noted that the number of deaths in West Java rose significantly in the last two weeks and so did the number of fatalities in East Java that reached its peak in the previous months.

The trend of mortality rate in Papua has increased in the past couple of weeks, she stated.

"Although the absolute count of deaths in Papua is not too high and normally increases 1, 2, 5, or 6, it suddenly rose sharply in the past week," she pointed out.


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