Jayapura, Jubi – Beds for COVID-19 patients at seven hospitals in Jayapura City have reached full capacity, or 100 percent occupied, on Wednesday, July 14, 2021, as COVID-19 case number continues to rise over the past few weeks.
The seven COVID-19 hospitals are the Jayapura General Hospital, Provita Hospital, Marthen Indey Hospital, Abepura Hospital, Bhayangkara Hospital, Ramela Hospital, and the Soedibjo Sardadi Naval Hospital.
“The number of COVID-19 cases keeps increasing. More than 40 [COVID-19 patients] a day on average,” Jayapura Health Agency head Ni Nyoman Sri Antari said on Wednesday.
Antari added that the R0 in Jayapura City had rocketed from 0.7 in May and June to 1.38 in July. The R0 represents the number of new cases that might be generated from one infection. An R0 above 1 means that an outbreak will grow exponentially.
Read also: West Papua Covid-19 vaccination: Updates and obstacles
Meanwhile, the Health Ministry’s Health Research and Development Agency (Litbangkes) of Papua Province is currently examining samples from two patients suspected of being infected with the Delta variant of the coronavirus, or B.1.617.2, a more infectious variant first identified in India in late 2020.
Papua Province Litbangkes head Antonius Oktavian said that the reagents needed to examine the Delta variant of the COVID-19 had arrived on July 8.
“We are waiting for the sample of the suspected variant of concern from the hospital. In the meantime, we are optimizing the reagents before use, which would take one or two weeks,” Oktavian told Jubi on Tuesday.
He added that the examination included one month of the whole-genome sequencing process to determine if the sample was of the Delta variant of the COVID-19.
Laboratory staff of the Papua Health Research and Development Agency (Litbangkes) in front of the Whole Genome Sequencing machine. Courtesy of the Papua Litbangkes.
Previously, the national Litbangkes has recorded 436 Delta COVID-19 cases in eieght provinces across the country on July 6, namely Jakarta (195), West Java (134), Central Java (80), East Java (13), Banten (4), Central Kalimantan (3), East Kalimantan (3), and Gorontalo (1).
In Papua, 27,279 people have been infected with the coronavirus and 555 have died from the disease as of Thursday, according to the Papua COVID-19 Task Force.
Jayapura City deputy mayor Rustan Saru appealed to the people to comply with health protocols such as wearing masks, washing hands, and avoiding crowds to curb the COVID-19 transmission, as beds in the COVID-19 hospitals had been fully occupied.
“That is the key to curb the infection. Many have contracted the virus and died. I’m asking all of you to remain vigilant and always be careful when doing activities in and outside the house,” he said.
Reporter: Ramah and Theo Kelen
Editor: Dewi Wulandari
