Characteristics of COVID-19 fatality cases in East Kalimantan, Indonesia

IntroductionCoronavirus Disease (COVID-19) is caused by SARS-CoV-2 infection. On March 2, 2020, Indonesia announced the first confirmed cases of COVID-19 infection. East Kalimantan will play an important role as the new capital of Indonesia. There is attention to the preparedness of East Kalimantan to respond to COVID-19. We report the characteristics of COVID-19 fatality cases in here. MethodsWe retrospectively analyzed the fatality cases of COVID-19 patients from the East Kalimantan Health Office information system. All patients were confirmed COVID-19 by RT-PCR examination. ResultsBy July 31, 2020, 31 fatality cases of patients had been identified as having confirmed COVID-19 in East Kalimantan. The mean age of the patients was 55.1 {+/-} 9.2 years. Most of the patients were men (22 [71.0%]) with age more than 60 years old (14 [45.2%]). Balikpapan has the highest number of COVID-19 fatality cases from all regencies. Hypertension was the most comorbidities in the fatality cases of COVID-19 patients in East Kalimantan. DiscussionOlder age and comorbidities still contributed to the fatality cases of COVID-19 patients in East Kalimantan, Indonesia. Hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cerebrovascular disease were underlying conditions for increasing the risk of COVID-19 getting into a serious condition. ConclusionActive surveillance for people older than 60 years old and having underlying diseases is needed for reducing the case fatality rate of COVID-19 in East Kalimantan.