Indonesia’s State Intelligence Agency (BIN) has predicted that the peak period of the novel coronavirus outbreak in Indonesia will fall in July, chief of the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), Doni Monardo, announced yesterday.
During a video conference, Doni said that BIN’s latest data shows that Indonesia’s COVID-19 caseload could go up to 106,287 cases by July.
“The peak will fall in late June and late July,” Doni said, as quoted by Kompas.
A breakdown of the agency’s findings show that Indonesia would see 27,307 cases by late April, 95,451 by late May, and 105,765 cases towards the end of June. Doni said 50 regencies and cities are considered high-risk in terms of escalating coronavirus spread, 49 percent of which are located in Java.
Doni, who heads Indonesia’s COVID-19 rapid-response team, added that Indonesia may be able to dodge the prediction as long as the public heeds the government’s advisories, such as the one concerning social distancing.
“If we can do the preventative measures, hopefully the [number of] cases will not be [as much as] what’s been predicted,” Doni said.
In mid-March, BIN predicted that the peak period of COVID-19 outbreak in the country might fall in May or during the month of Ramadan, the Islamic month of fasting. This year’s Ramadan is predicted to start on April 23 and end on May 23.
As of Thursday afternoon, Indonesia has confirmed 1,790 positive cases of COVID-19, which includes 170 deaths and 112 recoveries.
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