Spatial autocorrelation analysis of Covid-19 cases in South Kalimantan, Indonesia

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a new coronavirus that was discovered in Wuhan, China, at the end of 2019. In March 2020, the outbreak extended throughout the world, including Indonesia and one of its provinces, South Kalimantan. This rapid expansion should belinked to people’s mobility between regions, hence the linkage across regions must be examined. In South Kalimantan Province, the purpose of this research is to evaluate the distribution and relationship across regions in terms of the number of positive COVID-19 cases, the number of additional positive COVID-19 cases, and the number of COVID-19 patients under treatment. The spatial autocorrelation analysis with the Moran Index and Local Indicator of Spatial Autocorrelation (LISA) tests were used to determine the spatial autocorrelation between what and what using what data/where the data obtained? from March 22 to September 30, 2020. Based on the results of the Moran Index test, it is known that there is a spatial autocorrelation in the number of cases, the number of additional cases and the number of positive confirmed COVID-19 patients in treatment between one region and another neighboring area. While the results of the LISA Index test show that Balangan Regency, Hulu Sungai Tengah Regency, Hulu Sungai Utara Regency, Banjarmasin City, Tabalong Regency and Banjar Regency affect the level of COVID-19 cases in their respective neighboring areas. Therefore, there is a need for policies to control community mobility in those spatially correlated areas and increase testing and tracing to control the spread of COVID-19 cases in South Kalimantan Province.