IDNEWSNOW.COM, Jakarta – COVID-19 task force spokesperson Wiku Adisasmito on Friday said Kudus regency in Central Java recorded a 30-fold surge of COVID-19 cases in a week.
“It grew thirty times higher, from 26 cases to 929 cases. This means the active cases in Kudus are currently 1,280 cases or 21.41 percent compared to its positive cases. It is a fascinating number compared to the national cases of 5.47 percent,” said Wiku Adisasmito in a virtual press conference on June 4.
The critical situation also caused the hospital bed occupancy rate to spike to 90 percent.
Wiku explained that a local tradition of making pilgrimages to cemeteries and another local tradition known as kupatan one week after the Islamic Eid Al-fitr celebrations had sparked COVID-19 transmission among local communities.
He said this was made worse after 189 local healthcare workers were exposed to COVID-19 and hospitals had not implemented strict zonation areas to differentiate coronavirus patients from those who were not.
Read: Kudus Sets Up Roadblocks, Closes Tourist Sites due to COVID-19 Surge
DEWI NURITA
