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Jakarta sees rise in COVID-19 hospitalizations
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In this file photo taken on March 21, 2020, members of the Indonesian Red Cross prepare to sterilize the Kemayoran athletes village in Jakarta for use as a COVID-19 quarantine and emergency hospital. (JP/Seto Wardhana)
O
ccupancy rates for hospital beds for COVID-19 patients are rising rapidly in Jakarta, albeit mostly for asymptomatic or mild patients, as the third wave of infections fueled by the highly contagious Omicron variant engulfs the city and the daily caseload reaches record highs.
National COVID-19 task force spokesperson Wiku Adisasmito announced on Tuesday that the bed occupancy rate (BOR) for coronavirus patients in 140 hospitals across the city had reached 66 percent, raising concerns over the possibility of an overwhelmed healthcare system.
"As per Monday, the national BOR stood at 24.7 percent. However, some regions have recorded much higher hospitalization rates compared with the national figure, including Jakarta, whose rate has reached 66 percent," Wiku said.
According to Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan, 3,631 out of 5,818 hospital beds in Jakarta were occupied on Monday. Data from the Health Ministry also revealed that intensive care unit (ICU) bed occupancy was at 35 percent.
Despite the concerning figure, Anies said that most of COVID-19 patients admitted to city hospitals did not actually require hospitalization as they were suffering only mild symptoms.
"Only 12 percent of patients have moderate or severe symptoms, while some 48 percent have mild symptoms and do not actually need hospital care," he said, as reported by kompas.com.
Omicron, said to be more transmissible but causing less severe symptoms than those of Delta, is believed to have become dominant in Jakarta, but due to poor genomic surveillance, it remains unclear how many of the cases are Omicron infections.
