Large-Scale Social Restriction (LSSR) Policy and Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever Cases during COVID-19 Pandemic in Indonesia (Case Studies: Five Cities/Districts in East Java Province)

Abstract

The first positive case of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Indonesia was announced in March 2020. Since then, the positive cases have continued to increase. This condition prompted the government to adopt the Large-Scale Social Restriction (LSSR)/Pembatasan Sosial Berskala Besar (PSBB). Some areas included in endemic regions for dengue face two problems: overcoming COVID-19 and Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever (DHF) simultaneously. Five economic growth center cities/districts in East Java Province (Gresik, Bangkalan, Surabaya, Sidoarjo, and Lamongan) were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and dengue fever. This was a quantitative research with a comparative design study using the Wilcoxon test to compare the cases of DHF pre-COVID-19 and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Wilcoxon test result showed no significant difference with a p-value of 0.319 (p-value>0.05). It can be concluded that DHF still becomes a problem in five cities/districts in East Java Province even though LSRR was applied. Extra attention is needed to overcome DHF. One of the efforts to prevent and control DHF during the COVID-19 pandemic is to build community independence through the one house one health cadres’ movement.