Prevalence and epidemiological characteristics of COVID-19 after one year of pandemic in Jakarta and neighbouring areas, Indonesia: A single center study

PLoS One. 2022 May 12;17(5):e0268241. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0268241. eCollection 2022.

Abstract

We determined the prevalence and epidemiological characteristics of COVID-19 in Jakarta and neighboring areas, Indonesia from March 2020 to February 2021, based on nasopharyngeal/oropharyngeal (NP/OP) swab specimens that were tested at the Eijkman Institute for Molecular Biology, Jakarta. NP/OP swab specimens were collected from COVID-19 suspects or individuals in contact tracing programs from primary healthcare centers (PHC) and hospitals. The specimens were screened for the SARS-CoV-2 by qRT-PCR. Demography data and clinical symptoms were collected using national standardized laboratory form. Of 64,364 specimens, 10,130 (15.7%) were confirmed positive for SARS-CoV-2, with the peak prevalence of infection in March 2020 (26.3%) follow by in January 2021 (23.9%) and February 2021 (21.8%). We found that the positivity rate of the specimens from Jakarta, West Java, and Banten was 16.3%, 13.3%, and 16.8%, respectively. Positivity rate was higher in specimens from hospitals (16.9%) than PHC (9.4%). Of the positive specimens, 29.6% were from individuals aged >60 years old, followed by individuals aged 41-60 years old (24.2%). Among symptomatic cases of SARS-CoV-2, the most common symptoms were cough, fever, and a combination of both cough & fever. In conclusion, this study illustrates the prevalence and epidemiological characteristics from one COVID-19 diagnostic center in Jakarta and neighbouring areas in Indonesia.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • COVID-19* / epidemiology
  • Cough / epidemiology
  • Fever / epidemiology
  • Humans
  • Indonesia / epidemiology
  • Middle Aged
  • Pandemics*
  • Prevalence
  • SARS-CoV-2