How to Read New Covid-19 Data on corona.jakarta.go.id

While we all work through this pandemic, it’s always a good idea to stay in the know and up to date with any developments happening in the country, the city, and especially in your immediate surroundings. How much of the coronavirus has spread and where it has spread to is crucial information for you to assess the risk of doing activities outside your home. Taking note of how many cases there are in the city and the whole nation is also important in giving you a broad outline of the general situation. Fortunately, the corona.jakarta.go.id website has provided a dedicated page for various data regarding the Covid-19 cases in Jakarta and Indonesia. The data displayed on this page is sourced directly from reports by the Ministry of Health of The Republic of Indonesia.

At first glance, the web page may look intimidating and confusing with all the numbers and charts, but it is actually relatively simple to understand. This article will briefly explain each piece of data displayed on the page, how to read them, and what they represent. Let’s start from the top.

Confirmed Cases

Here we start with the most general numbers on the amount of cases in Indonesia and Jakarta. Always remember to check the top left to see when the data was last updated, as they are regularly renewed every day. The left box displays the total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in Indonesia, with three more stats underneath it showing the amount of Covid-19 patients still in intensive care, has recovered and released from the hospital, or has died. Meanwhile, the right box shows the total number of cases in Jakarta at the top, with four data below it shows how many of those cases are in intensive care, have recovered, have died, or are in self-isolation. Furthermore, three more stats below the first four shows how many of the Covid-19 patients did not show symptoms (asymptomatic), show symptoms (symptomatic), or still unknown. The smaller numbers in brackets displayed under each data is the percentage when compared to the case total. From here, we can see the recovery and death rate of Covid-19 cases, as well as how many of the cases didn’t show any symptoms, reminding us that we should always stay cautious.

Categories of Cases

The next set of numbers divides the cases into five categories accepted by the Ministry of Health which are: Suspect, Probable, Traveling Patient, Close Contact, and Discarded. Similar to the previous data, each number simply shows how many patients in that category have completed isolation, how many are still undergoing home isolation or hospital isolation, and how many have died, along with the total number of cases. But what does each category mean exactly? 

Suspect

1. People with upper respiratory tract infection (URTI) who in the last 14 days before showing symptoms have traveled to or lived in countries or Indonesian territories that have reported local virus transmission.
2. People showing symptoms of URTI who in the last 14 days before showing symptoms have made contact with probable/confirmed cases of Covid-19.
3. People with severe URTI/pneumonia undergoing treatment in a health facility with no other possible causes based on convincing clinical evidence.

Probable

Suspected case with severe URTI/Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS)/died with convincing clinical evidence of COVID-19 with no results of RT-PCR laboratory examination

Traveling Patient

Someone who traveled from within the country (domestic) and abroad (international) in the last 14 days.

Close Contact

1. People who have made face to face contact with probable or confirmed cases within a radius of 1 meter and a period of 15 minutes or more.
2. People who have been in direct physical contact with probable or confirmed cases (such as shaking hands, holding hands, etc.).
3. People who provide direct treatment for probable or confirmed cases without using a standardized personal protective equipment (PPE).
4. Other situations that indicate contact are based on local risk assessments determined by the local epidemiological investigation team.

Discarded

1. Someone with a suspect status and two negative RT-PCR test results for two consecutive days with an interval of >24 hours.
2. Someone with close contact status who has completed the quarantine for 14 days.

Rapid Test and PCR Test

The next three boxes display data related to the Rapid Diagnostic Test and Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) Test that is widely performed on citizens to detect Covid-19 cases. The rapid tests use blood samples to detect certain antibody reactivity in the bloodstream. Reactive antibodies mean there may be a virus infection in the body, while non-reactive results mean that the body is healthy. Reactive results do not always mean someone has Covid-19, as there are other reasons why the antibodies could be reactive, which means that the test does not tell whether someone is infected with Covid-19 or not. On the other hand, the PCR Test or ‘swab test’ requires specimens to be taken from the person such as mucus from the nose or phlegm from the throat to be examined. Which is why the data shows different numbers for PCR-tested people and PCR-tested specimens. This test more accurately identifies the presence of the coronavirus in the specimens tested. Positive results mean the SARS-Cov-2 virus has been found in the specimen, while negative results mean the specimen is free from the virus.

Cases by Location

Next you will see a set of three maps of Jakarta, each showing the data for three of the categories discussed previously: Suspect, Close Contact, and Confirmed Cases. The map also represents the five municipalities of Jakarta (North, East, South, West, and Central) in different colors so they are easier to identify. At first, you won’t see anything on the map. This is because you have to select and click on one of the sub-districts in the map to see the numbers. Once you click, a small box will pop up showing the name of the sub-district, municipality, and the total number of cases to be found there. These maps are very important if you need to know how many cases are located near your home or someplace else that you need to travel to.

Cases by Age and Gender

Identifying which groups of people are more vulnerable to Covid-19 is crucial to ensure that you and your loved ones are safe. You may want to keep the more vulnerable people in your household at home while the safer ones can perform outside activities for them. This batch of graphs shows clearly how many Covid-19 cases are from which group of people. They are, again, divided into Suspect (green), Close Contact (yellow), and Confirmed Cases (red). The first three circular graphs divide the cases by gender, with the darker color representing male and the lighter color representing females. The next three bar graphs classify the cases by both age and gender. Again, the darker color means male while the lighter means female. On the left of each bar graph, you can see the age distribution. The longer the bar, the more cases found in that age group. For example, in the green Suspect graph on the left, the longest bar shows 7.926 Suspect cases are women aged 20-29. While on the male side, the most Suspect cases are found in men aged 30-39 with 6.600 cases.

Accumulative Data

The following are three more bar graphs also classified by Suspect, Close Contact, and Confirmed Cases. While previous graphs only show the total data, these graphs display the developments of Covid-19 in Jakarta as the months' progress. The earlier dates start from the leftmost bars and each bar represents a single date until we reach present-day on the rightmost bar. The Suspect and Close Contact tables show the change in cases from 17th July 2020, while the Confirmed Cases table shows a comprehensive view at the number of cases since the beginning of the pandemic back in early March. The bars themselves are further divided into different categories represented by different shades of color.

National and Local Trend, Daily New Cases

As you reach the bottom of the page, you will find graphs for increasingly specific data. Here you can view the graph for the accumulated amount of cases in Jakarta and Indonesia as a whole. Similar to the previous accumulation graphs, it shows the number of cases on any given day since the beginning of March starting from the left side of the graph and continuing to the present date on the right. Different lines on the graph are colored to distinguish different data (Cases, Deaths, and Recovered) for both Jakarta and nationally. The higher the line, the higher the number of cases. If you look closer, the lines are actually made up of many little dots, each representing a date. You can click any of these dots to see the specific number of cases on that given date.

Now that you have an idea on how to read the numbers and charts, you can also begin to understand how important these data are and how they paint a picture of the condition of our nation. As these data are updated daily, it is a good idea to check back every day and look out for any noticeable changes. You can also get daily updates directly to your device by downloading the JAKI app from the App Store or Google Play Store. Smartcitizen, remember to stay informed, stay updated, and stay safe!