Assessing the Waste and Sanitation Infrastructures toward COVID-19 Spreading in Surakarta City, Indonesia

Abstract

COVID-19 can spread rapidly in areas having high-density populations. The COVID-19 spreading in urban areas is higher than that in rural areas due to the population of urban areas being denser than that of rural areas. The existence of urban infrastructures is assumed to affect COVID-19 spreading in cities. The existence of waste and sanitation systems are the critical urban infrastructures relating to COVID-19 spreading. Surakarta is one of the cities in Indonesia having a high number of COVID-19 infection cases. Based on the Surakarta official website concerning COVID-19, it is known that COVID-19 infected about 37132 persons, or seven percent of the population until the end of the year 2022. This research seeks to reveal the correlation between the existence of waste and sanitation systems and COVID-19 spreading in Surakarta City. This research uses a quantitative approach supported by the statistical data which were retrieved from the Surakarta Statistics Agency, and the official website of the Surakarta Government concerning COVID-19 cases. The statistical data was processed by correlation analysis. The research result revealed that waste management correlates with the number of COVID-19 survivors’ cases. Meanwhile, the sanitation facilities even individually or communally do not correlate with the number of COVID-19 survivors’ cases. Furthermore, the factor of implementing health protocols has a low correlation with the number of COVID-19 survivors’ cases. The waste management is one of the important urban strategies for COVID-19 spreading. Furthermore, this study case describes that COVID-19 risk reduction relates more to urban management than urban planning.