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Dr Dicky Budiman, an epidemiologist who has helped formulate Indonesia's Ministry of Health pandemic management strategy for 20 years, also believes the real number of COVID-19 in Bali is much higher than the official tally.
He said the spread is going undetected because of a lack of testing and underreporting caused by cultural norms that encourage traditional healing at home.
He also theorised that many COVID-19 infections in Bali are being misdiagnosed as dengue fever - a disease spread by mosquitoes.
"There is an extraordinarily high number of dengue cases in Bali right now - more than 2,100 cases - and I believe that is because testing for dengue is easier, cheaper and faster than testing for COVID-19."
The theory is corroborated by a recent study in the peer-reviewed medical journal, The Lancet, which describes two patients in Singapore who received false-positive results for dengue and were later confirmed to have COVID-19.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/...035557649.html
He said the spread is going undetected because of a lack of testing and underreporting caused by cultural norms that encourage traditional healing at home.
He also theorised that many COVID-19 infections in Bali are being misdiagnosed as dengue fever - a disease spread by mosquitoes.
"There is an extraordinarily high number of dengue cases in Bali right now - more than 2,100 cases - and I believe that is because testing for dengue is easier, cheaper and faster than testing for COVID-19."
The theory is corroborated by a recent study in the peer-reviewed medical journal, The Lancet, which describes two patients in Singapore who received false-positive results for dengue and were later confirmed to have COVID-19.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/...035557649.html