THE nation’s daily coronavirus positivity rate dropped below the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) benchmark standard of 5% this week for the first time, an indicator that the country’s devastating second wave could be easing.

The positivity rate, or the proportion of people tested who are positive, peaked at 33.4% in July when Indonesia became Asia’s coronavirus epicentre, driven by the highly contagious Delta variant.

On Monday that rate fell to 4.57%, the lowest since March 2020, when Indonesia’s first cases were reported, according to independent data initiative, Kawal Covid-19.

A rate above 5% indicates Covid-19 is out of control, the WHO says.

Kawal co-founder Elina Ciptadi said the trend was a good sign, although she cautioned that official data could not capture a dearth of under-reported cases and deaths.

“All in all, what we are seeing is encouraging,” she said.

Since its July peak, the average positivity rate has fallen steadily, from 23.8% in the first week of August to 11.3% in the final week of that month, to 6.2% on average so far in September.

Coronavirus restrictions were eased further on Monday, with most areas on Java island downgraded, allowing conditional operation of malls, factories and restaurants.

Epidemiologist Dicky Budiman from Australia’s Griffith University said testing and tracing efforts remained weak.

“I’m happy and worried about the decline,” he said. “There were efforts from the government, but not strong enough to get us out of the crisis,” he said, adding that improvements were mostly in big cities.Weekly health ministry data last week show several provinces still recording high positivity rates, with Aceh at 17.4% and North Kalimantan at 16.7%.

 - Reuters