TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
COVID-19 Task force to distribute test kits to 12 provinces, targets 300,000 tests monthly
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
A health worker wearing protective gear takes a blood sample for a COVID-19 test in Bogor, West Java, on April 7. (REUTERS/Willy Kurniawan)
I
ndonesia's COVID-19 Task Force plans to distribute equipment for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests to 12 of the country’s 34 provinces to help detect the virus, the State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) Ministry has said.
The regions that will receive the test kits are Jakarta, West Java, Banten, Central Java, East Java, Bali, Lampung, South Sumatra, North Sumatra, East Kalimantan, South Kalimantan and Papua.
“The test kits should be operated in a standardized virology lab with negative-pressure rooms such as in hospitals,” SOEs Minister Erick Thohir's aide Arya Mahendra Sinulingga said on Wednesday.
Indonesia, one of the many countries scrambling to procure coronavirus testing equipment, purchased the test kits from Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche.
Read also: Indonesia ranks among world's worst in coronavirus testing rate
With a total of 18 PCR detectors and two RNA automatic extractors, the country is now expected to be able to test 5,000 to 10,000 samples a day. “Therefore, we could test 300,000 a month,” he said.
National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) spokesperson Agus Wibowo said medical facilities would be able to expedite COVID-19 detection and optimize the recovery processes of patients to put a stop to the transmission of the disease.
Health authorities in Indonesia have tested more than 15,000 samples so far.
As of Wednesday, the government had recorded 2,956 cases nationwide with 240 fatalities.
