"This means the number of positive cases that had increased quite a lot lately are due to close contact (tracing or tracking) of patients, who were first confirmed positive for COVID-19," Daily Head of the Yogyakarta COVID-19 Task Force Heroe Poerwadi stated in Yogyakarta on Friday.
In the past week, the number of additional daily cases in Yogyakarta had reached over 200 and also exceeded 400 cases in the last three days, from Tuesday, February 15, to Thursday, February 17.
On Friday, February 18, additional 267 cases of COVID-19 were recorded, with 45 patients making recoveries, thereby bringing the count of current active cases in the city to 2,907.
However, the current number of active cases and additional daily cases in Yogyakarta had not exceeded the peak during the second COVID-19 wave caused by the Delta variant in the middle of last year.
He believed that the increase in cases was expected to occur until the end of February, and it was expected to start declining in early March.
Poerwadi stated that they still had adequate facilities to treat patients, both in ICU rooms and isolation in hospitals and at integrated isolation shelters.
Related news: Vaccination coverage among children in Yogyakarta reaches 81.5%
“The average BOR is still at around 30 percent. There will be additional shelters to meet the need for integrated isolation," he affirmed.
Most patients undergoing treatment at the Yogyakarta City hospital are not entirely local residents, as 70 percent of the inpatients were from outside the city.
Poerwadi drew attention to the fact that although 89.5 percent of the infected patients were either asymptomatic or had mild symptoms, transmission of the virus could not be underestimated.
“This virus can have a fatal impact on people in the vulnerable groups, such as those who have not been vaccinated, the elderly, and children. Hence, they still need protection, through means of implementing health protocols by all residents," he noted.
Related news: Yogyakarta: 171 students, teachers contract COVID-19 so far
Translator: Eka Arifa R, Mecca Yumna
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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