Kluster Regional, Varian Baru Covid-19 Harus jadi Perhatian Indonesia
Virus Variants a Concern in Indonesia as Regional Clusters Grow
Editor : Ismail Gani
Translator : Novita Cahyadi
LONJAKAN kasus virus Corona di dua pulau terpadat di Indonesia, Jawa dan Sumatera, membuat para ahli kesehatan khawatir bahwa yang terburuk akan datang, dengan sedikit pembatasan pergerakan pada saat varian berbahaya mendorong rekor kematian di negara lain di kawasan Asia Tenggara.
Jumlah kasus telah meningkat tajam di Jawa dan Sumatera tiga minggu setelah mudik Lebaran, ketika jutaan orang memaksa pulang kampung di seluruh Indonesia, mengabaikan larangan mudik yang dicanangkan pemerintah.
Di Kudus, Jawa Tengah, tengah berlangsung upaya penanggulangan, setelah kasus positif Covid-19 melonjak 7,594%, menurut Wiku Adisasmito dari Gugus Tugas Covid-19. Kapasitas rumah sakit telah mencapai 90% di sana, seperti dilaporkan media.
Defriman Djafri, pakar epidemiologi dari Universitas Andalas di Padang, mengatakan kematian di Provinsi Sumatera Barat pada Mei adalah yang paling banyak.
Di Provinsi Riau, kasus harian meningkat lebih dari dua kali lipat dari awal April menjadi lebih dari 800 pada pertengahan Mei, sementara tingkat positifnya mencapai 35,8% minggu lalu, kata Wildan Asfan Hasibuan, ahli epidemiologi dan Penasihat Gugus Tugas Covid-19 Riau.
Wildan mengaitkan lonjakan tersebut dengan peningkatan mobilitas dan kemungkinan penyebaran varian virus corona, yang telah mendorong lonjakan besar di banyak negara.
Dampak varian baru sulit ditentukan di Indonesia, yang memiliki kapasitas sekuensing genomik yang terbatas.
Indonesia juga minim pengujian dan penelusuran dan upaya imunisasinya telah berkembang lambat, dengan 1 dari 18 orang yang ditargetkan untuk divaksinasi sepenuhnya sejauh ini.
Studi terbaru juga menunjukkan kasus bisa jauh lebih tinggi daripada hampir 1,9 juta infeksi yang diketahui, di antara beban kasus tertinggi di Asia.
Dicky Budiman, ahli epidemiologi dari Griffith University Australia, mengatakan Indonesia harus lebih serius menangani varian Covid-19, terutama varian Delta, yang menurutnya masih dalam tahap awal penyebaran.
"Jika kita tidak mengubah strategi kita, kita akan menghadapi ledakan kasus di masyarakat, kematian akan meningkat," katanya seperti dikutip Reuters yang dilansir MailOnline.
"Itu berarti cepat atau lambat akan mencapai yang lebih rentan ... kita akan menghadapi ledakan kasus yang tidak dapat kita tangani atau tanggapi di fasilitas kesehatan kita."
A JUMP in coronavirus cases on Indonesia's two most populous islands has health experts worried that the worst could be yet to come, with few curbs on movement at a time when dangerous variants drive record fatalities elsewhere in Southeast Asia.
Case numbers have risen sharply in Java and Sumatra three weeks after holidays that followed the Islamic fasting month, when millions ventured across the archipelago, ignoring a temporary travel ban.
In Kudus, central Java, where healthcare reinforcements have been brought in, cases skyrocketed 7,594% according to Wiku Adisasmito of Indonesia's COVID-19 taskforce. Hospital capacity had hit 90% there, local media reported.
Defriman Djafri, an epidemiologist from Andalas University in Pandang, said fatalities in West Sumatra in May were the most on record.
In Riau on Sumatra, daily cases more than doubled from early April to over 800 by mid-May, while the positivity rate was at 35.8% last week, said Wildan Asfan Hasibuan, an epidemiologist and provincial taskforce advisor.
Wildan attributed the spike to increased mobility and possible spread of coronavirus variants, which have driven big spikes in many countries.
The impact of Variants of Concern are hard to determine in Indonesia, which has limited genomic sequencing capacity.
It also has testing and tracing shortfalls and its immunisation drive has progressed slowly, with 1 in 18 people targeted for inoculations fully vaccinated so far.
Recent studies have also indicated cases could be far higher than the nearly 1.9 million known infections, among Asia's highest caseloads.
Dicky Budiman, an epidemiologist from Australia's Griffith University, said Indonesia should take COVID-19 variants more seriously, particularly the Delta variant, which he said was in its early stage of spreading.
"If we don't change our strategy, we will face an explosion of cases in the community, mortality will increase," he said.
"It means sooner or later it will reach the more vulnerable ... we will face an explosion of cases which we cannot contain or respond to in our health facilities."
