“We are now, in September, seeing a rise in pandemic numbers [...] Our battle with COVID-19 will not be over within the coming weeks, but we are on the right track,” Anies said on Friday in his address to a Family Welfare Movement (PKK) event.

The governor said the key to handling the epidemic was mass testing and tracing, which he claimed the capital had been aggressively conducting with 50,000 COVID-19 tests a week.

The figure is above the World Health Organization’s recommendation for testing at least one person out of 1,000 per week.

He added that with the high number of tests, the capital had discovered more infected people that could be immediately subjected to hospital care or self-isolation.

The early detection and care, Anies claimed, had resulted in a relatively low fatality rate of 2.9 percent, below the national and global average of around 5.1 percent and 3.4 percent respectively.

“Alhamdulillah [praise be to God], Jakarta has conducted testing, tracing and treatment well. Now, we urge the residents to wear masks, keep a social distance and wash their hands regularly,” Anies said.

COVID-19 cases in Jakarta, the epicenter of the outbreak in Indonesia, have recently shown an uptrend, with the Health Ministry announcing a record-high 1,359 daily new cases on Thursday. There were 877 new daily cases on Saturday, down from 880 on Friday.

As of Saturday, the capital has recorded 45,157 confirmed infections with 1,265 fatalities and 33,931 recoveries.

The spike had pushed the capital’s positivity rate to 12.5 percent, more than twofold the WHO recommendation of a 5 percent positivity rate as the basis for relaxing social restrictions.

Meanwhile, East Jakarta’s Pondok Ranggon cemetery expects to run out of space for COVID-19 graves in October because of the recent increase in the number of burials. Nadi, the cemetery’s management officer, said there was only space left for another 1,100 burials in the cemetery’s southern area of 7,000 square meters.

“The capacity is likely to be critical in mid-October,” Nadi said on Saturday as quoted by kompas.com.

It is estimated that in October, the remaining land may only accommodate 380 to 400 bodies.

Nadi said the average number of bodies buried at Pondok Ranggon cemetery was 700 a month. In August, an average 27 bodies were buried per day.

“Aug. 31 set a record with 36 bodies buried that day, the highest number ever since I was put in charge in March,” he said. Since the establishment of Pondok Ranggon cemetery as a COVID-19 burial location in March, the cemetery authorities have opened eight new plots and buried 2,623 bodies.

“We use plot numbers 91 to 99 [for COVID-19 graves], except plot number 97, which is used for the general public. A plot can accommodate 240 to 300 bodies,” said Nadi.

Regarding the possibility of the cemetery reaching its limit in October, Nadi conceded that his party had not come up with any plan.

He only hoped that the number of COVID-19 cases and hence the death toll would be reduced so there would be fewer COVID-19 patients to bury. (aly)

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