JAKARTA: The governors of Jakarta and West Java, the two regions of the country hit hardest by the coronavirus outbreak, have suggested that the numbers of people infected and killed by the disease in the country are significantly higher than the central government’s official count.



They have said the Health Ministry has not been swift enough in testing potential Covid-19 patients. According to The Jakarta Post’s calculations using data provided by the ministry’s daily outbreak briefings, the central government has conducted a daily average of 240 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests since March 2.



As of Friday, the ministry had confirmed 1,986 cases with 181 deaths and had conducted about 7,986 PCR tests in total.



“Pardon me, Mr Vice President, the cases that we have today are exponentially higher.



“Our testing speed is not as we expected it to be so only a little data has come in,” West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil said during a virtual call with Vice President Ma’ruf Amin on Friday.



“The more we test, the more we know where the virus is circulating.”



Ridwan said the official government count showed only 225 cases in West Java as of Friday, but rapid testing conducted by his administration had uncovered 677 new cases.



After the rapid testing, which has a relatively high error rate, the governor said he would have to conduct secondary and more accurate swab tests.



The rapid tests, he said, were needed to bypass the slow testing process at the Health Ministry’s National Institute of Health Research and Development (Balitbangkes), which he said could only test about 200 samples a day.



West Java has distributed 50,000 rapid test kits and has found that Sukabumi is a new outbreak epicenter in the province. The biggest cluster was found at the National Police’s Setukpa Officer Establishment School, where 300 of the 1,550 students tested were found positive for the virus.



The second biggest cluster was found at the Lembang Bethel Church of Indonesia (GBI) where 226 congregants tested positive for the coronavirus, two of whom, the pastor and his wife, have reportedly died of the disease.



“Out of the 637 Bethel Church attendees, 226 tested positive, that’s a 35% rate,” Ridwan said.



Ridwan said the administration had conducted door-to-door testing in addition to tests in community health centres and hospitals.



The administration opened a drive-through testing station in the Gelora Bandung Lautan Api Stadium in Bandung. — The Jakarta Post/ANN





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