PRESS RELEASE

Repeated Errors in Covid-19 Data Collection in Indonesia Until the End of 2021

2021 will leave many sad pandemic stories for the Indonesian people. These stories are certainly traumatic as well as being good lessons if accompanied by wise and data-based steps to handle the pandemic.

As of December 31 2021, at least 4.26 million people had tested positive for Covid-19 with the number of active cases being 4,292 people. Not only that, the accumulated death data reported by the central government has reached 144,094 people.

The trend of deaths apparently shows a significant decrease in numbers, especially during the period November to December 2021. Specifically for deaths on the island of Java, on December 17, the number was lower than in other regions. In fact, so far Java has been the epicenter of the pandemic with a very large number of deaths.

Differences in Death Rates Still Occur

Based on accumulated data per province as of December 31 2021, the number of deaths due to Covid-19 reached 160,476 people. Meanwhile, according to a release from the Indonesian Ministry of Health/National Covid-19 Task Force on the same date, the number of positive Covid-19 deaths was 144,094 people. Thus, there is a difference of around 16 thousand deaths that were not announced by the Indonesian Ministry of Health/National Covid-19 Task Force.

Sixteen thousand souls is a large number. Supposedly, central government data is exactly the same as provincial government data. Unfortunately, discrepancies in data on deaths due to Covid-19 have consistently occurred since the start of the pandemic. This not only shows that there is no significant improvement in death data, but shows that there is no respect for the lives of every citizen lost due to the pandemic.

The beginning of 2022 is an important moment to reflect on the seriousness of the pandemic, especially the trigger for the large number of deaths. Based on official data from 34 provinces, we recorded that there were at least 134 thousand positive Covid-19 deaths from January 1 2021 to December 31 2021. However, this figure does not include the number of deaths from probable Covid-19 cases. The accumulated data on probable deaths for each region reached more than 32,094 people.

Meanwhile, the number of deaths from suspected cases is more than 8,592 people, and the number of deaths during self-isolation and outside hospitals that have just been recorded by the LaporCovid-19 team is at least 3,015 people. Among those who died, there were 2,066 health workers. The reality of the number of deaths related to Covid-19 in Indonesia is like an iceberg phenomenon. So it requires evaluative steps to prevent deaths due to Covid-19 which can be avoided this year.

The Importance of Consistent Data Updates

Provincial and city/district Covid-19 information sites play an important role in collecting data and providing comparison and validation against the central government's version, so that data quality and transparency need to be maintained and improved. Unfortunately, there are many things that need to be improved about the data for 34 provinces, namely the presentation model, data updates and data openness.

As written in the LaporCovid-19 press release Third Wave Threatens, Regional Covid-19 Data Still Minimal At the end of November 2021, updating data became a challenge in itself. Based on our monitoring, there are still frequent delays in updating data. In fact, some sites were inaccessible for quite a long time.

There are six provinces that have been observed to experience data update delays, namely Gorontalo since December 22, Southeast Sulawesi since December 19, Maluku since December 13, West Sulawesi since October 21, Riau Islands since September 23, and the longest is Papua since September 2. Based on these conditions, the LaporCovid-19 team recommends that the relevant provinces maintain up-to-date Covid-19 statistical data on their respective sites.

In addition, there are five provinces whose sites cannot be accessed without clear reasons, namely North Sumatra, NTT, North Maluku, East Kalimantan and Bali. The East Kalimantan website states it has been under repair for a long time. In last month's release, the province of West Papua experienced a site that was inaccessible, but now the site has recovered and is regularly updating Covid-19 statistical data. We hope that the relevant regional governments can encourage sites in their respective provinces to continue to make progress in improving the presentation of Covid-19 data, especially for the provinces of North Sumatra, NTT and North Maluku.

Apart from provincial sites, the LaporCovid-19 data reporting team also monitored at least 77 district city sites from six provinces, namely Bali, Banten, West Java, Central Java, East Java and Lampung. In general, the existing city/district sites are quite good, although there are 17 percent of city/district sites that experience data update delays or the site cannot be accessed.

Recommendation

Website management presenting ideal Covid-19 statistical data is not easy, so it needs to be taken seriously, consistently and always open to continuous development. Several aspects that need to be of primary concern in maintaining the quality of the website presenting statistical data and information on Covid-19 are:

1. Aspects of platform integration from local, regional and national levels.
2. Routine and up-to-date aspects of data near real time.
3. Aspects of ease in understanding data presentation.
4. Aspects of data availability for each parameter and historical data.
5. Aspects of openness and easy access to data for people from various circles, especially researchers in the context of in-depth research and data analysis.

Therefore, based on the results of monitoring the development of provincial Covid-19 sites, the LaporData LaporCovid-19 team recommends a number of points for improving sites/platforms for 34 provinces in presenting Covid-19 statistical data as follows:

Table of recommendations for presenting Covid-19 statistical data

Province	Site	Previous Comments/Recommendations	Update Comments / Recommendations
Aceh	https://covid19.acehprov.go.id/	Provincial sites need to present historical and downloadable data in an easy format	Idem
Bali	https://infocorona.baliprov.go.id/	The provincial site needs to add Covid19 data parameters, presenting historical data and downloadable data in an easy format	The site cannot be accessed so it needs to be activated again
Banten	https://infocorona.bantenprov.go.id/	The provincial website needs to present historical data and data that can be downloaded in an easy format, as well as updating the data in more real time	Idem
Bengkulu	https://covid19.bengkuluprov.go.id/databengkulu	The provincial website needs to present historical data and data that can be downloaded in an easy format, as well as updating the data in more real time	Idem
Special Region of Yogyakarta	https://corona.jogjaprov.go.id/data-statistik	The provincial site just needs to improve in presenting data that is easy to download	Idem
DKI Jakarta	https://riwayat-file-covid-19-dki-jakarta-jakartagis.hub.arcgis.com/	The site presents well and only needs minor improvements	Idem
Gorontalo	https://dinkes.gorontaloprov.go.id/covid-19/	The provincial website needs to present historical data and data that can be downloaded in an easy format, as well as updating the data in more real time	Need to update data in real time
Jambi	https://corona.jambiprov.go.id/v2/	The provincial website needs to present historical data and data that can be downloaded in an easy format, as well as updating the data in more real time	Idem
West Java	https://pikobar.jabarprov.go.id/data	The site presents well and only needs minor improvements	Idem
Central Java	https://corona.jatengprov.go.id/data	The provincial site needs to add Covid19 data parameters, presenting historical data and downloadable data in an easy format	Idem
East Java	http://infocovid19.jatimprov.go.id	The site is inaccessible	The site is back up and running normally
West Kalimantan	https://dinkes.kalbarprov.go.id/sebaran-covid19/	The provincial site needs to add Covid19 data parameters, presenting historical data and downloadable data in an easy format	Idem
South Kalimantan	https://corona.kalselprov.go.id/	The provincial site needs to add Covid19 data parameters, presenting historical data and downloadable data in an easy format	Idem
Central Kalimantan	https://corona.kalteng.go.id/	The provincial website needs to present historical data and data that can be downloaded in an easy format, as well as updating the data in more real time	Idem
East Kalimantan	https://covid19.kaltimprov.go.id/	The site cannot be accessed because it is under construction	The site is still under construction and needs to be repaired soon
North Kalimantan	https://coronainfo.kaltaraprov.go.id/	The provincial website needs to present historical data and data that can be downloaded in an easy format, as well as updating the data in more real time	Idem
Bangka Belitung Islands	https://covid19.babelprov.go.id/data	The provincial website needs to present historical data and data that can be downloaded in an easy format, as well as updating the data in more real time	Idem
Riau islands	https://corona.kepriprov.go.id/data.phtml	The site needs to be activated again immediately	Still not updated since September 23, 2021
Lampung	https://covid19.lampungprov.go.id/	The provincial site needs to add Covid19 data parameters, presenting historical data and downloadable data in an easy format	Idem
Maluku	https://corona.malukuprov.go.id/	The provincial website needs to present historical data and data that can be downloaded in an easy format, as well as updating the data in more real time	Need to update data again in real time
North Maluku	http://corona.malutprov.go.id/	The site is inaccessible	The site is still inaccessible for more than 3 months
West Nusa Tenggara	https://corona.ntbprov.go.id/list-data	The provincial site just needs to improve in presenting data that is easy to download	Idem
East Nusa Tenggara	http://www.covid19.nttprov.go.id/	The site is inaccessible	The site is still inaccessible for more than 3 months
Papua	https://covid19.papua.go.id/	The site needs to be activated again immediately	Still not updated since September 2, 2021
West Papua	https://dinkes.papuabaratprov.go.id/	The site is inaccessible	The site is back up and running normally
Riau	https://corona.riau.go.id/	Provincial sites need to present historical and downloadable data in an easy format	Idem
West Sulawesi	https://covid19.sulbarprov.go.id/utama/data	The site needs to be activated again immediately	Still not updated since October 21, 2021
South Sulawesi	https://covid19.sulselprov.go.id/data	The provincial website needs to present historical data and data that can be downloaded in an easy format, as well as updating the data in more real time	It has started to be updated regularly
Central Sulawesi	https://dinkes.sultengprov.go.id/category/covid-19/	The provincial website needs to present historical data and data that can be downloaded in an easy format, as well as updating the data in more real time	It has started to be updated regularly
Southeast Sulawesi	https://corona.sultraprov.go.id/front/data2	The site needs to be activated again immediately	Need to update data again in real time
North Sulawesi	https://corona.sulutprov.go.id/data	The provincial site just needs to improve in presenting data that is easy to download	Idem
West Sumatra	https://corona.sumbarprov.go.id/details/index_master_corona	The site needs to add covid data parameters and keep the site updated in real time	Idem
South Sumatra	http://corona.sumselprov.go.id/	The provincial site just needs to improve in presenting data that is easy to download	Idem
North Sumatra	http://covid19.sumutprov.go.id/	The site is inaccessible	The site is still inaccessible for more than 3 months

Contact Person:

Said Fariz Hibban – Report Covid-19
(6281527440489)

This press release can be downloaded via the following link