One-month Progress of COVID-19 Cases in East Kalimantan, Indonesia

Abstract

BACKGROUND: East Kalimantan, Indonesia, will play a significant geopolitical role as the province has been selected as the location of the future capital city of Indonesia. As a buffer zone to the capital city, there is urgent attention on the preparedness of the cities and regencies in East Kalimantan to respond to emergent infectious disease events such as coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19).

AIM: The aim of the present study was to descriptively convey information about COVID-19 cases in East Kalimantan during the period of March 18, 2020–April 18, 2020, in terms of the isolation, testing, and tracing mechanisms used.

METHODS: The initial distribution of COVID-19 was identified in 5 of 10 districts and is now present in almost all districts except for one very remote regency.

RESULTS: The tracing performance of the fast response teams in East Kalimantan during this period was considered satisfactory with a mean of 0.7% of people under observation testing positive for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, and a mean of 14.4% patients under investigations testing positive. The use of rapid tests since March 30, 2020 has improved the detection ability, with confirmed positive cases as a percentage of confirmed negatives increasing from 20.2% to 31.8%. The use of the COVID-19 rapid test was cross-checked with a dengue rapid test to prevent false-positive identification. Confirmed clusters were announced to the public, urging people to respond and report.

CONCLUSION: The 1-month progress of COVID-19 cases in East Kalimantan showed a total case fatality rate (CFR) of 1.85%, a closed CFR of 8.3% and a closed case recovery rate of 91.7%.