The government and regional administrations need to move faster, mobilizing all available sources to accelerate 3T such as medicines, care wards, oxygen and health workers in order to anticipate worst situation.
By
KOMPAS EDITOR
·3 minutes read
Kompas/Wawan H Prabowo
Residents queue to refill oxygen cylinders on Jalan Swadarma Raya, Ulujami Village, Pesanggrahan District, South Jakarta, Sunday (4/7/2021).
It’s so saddening. Every day, news about people who have been exposed to Covid-19 continues to pop up in messaging applications.
Friends, relatives, without exception. The news become even more distressing because many of them could not be helped because the hospitals are full and they died while waiting in line after wandering around for long, looking for empty wards.
They did enter the hospital but their lives could not be saved altogether as their condition had by then worsened. It was too late. Others died because they ran out of oxygen, such as the case at the Sardjito Hospital, Yogyakarta.
Daily confirmed cases are increasing. On Saturday (3/7/2021) there were 27,913 additional cases, and on Sunday (4/7/2021), 27,233 new cases were confirmed. This daily spike in cases is almost double the highest wave on January 31, 2020, which was 14,518 cases.
We certainly hope that the daily cases will slow down soon. We do not want to experience what India did, during which the daily cases escalated sharply from 97,859 cases on 16 September 2020 to 414,433 cases on 6 May 2021.
The surge in new cases contributed to the increase in deaths. The curve that began to decline on January 29, 2021 was back on the rise by the end of May 2021 and now continues to increase. Yesterday\'s data shows the daily death rate exceeded the highest rate at the end of January 2021. To our bit of relief, the death spike was not as tremendous as the spike in daily cases.
The vaccination program continues to be scaled up to help reduce the mortality rate. As stated by the Health Ministry, various studies have shown that those who have been vaccinated, when exposed to Covid-19 will have less impact.
Kompas/Heru Sri Kumoro
Officers supervise the implementation of health protocols by vehicle users passing through the Emergency PPKM Post at Friday Market, South Jakarta, Saturday (3/7/2021).
However, the vaccination must go in parallel with other measures. Restriction on public mobility and implementation of the health protocols, especially the use of double masks, are imperative.
The Public Activity Restrictions (PPKM) that the government has imposed since Saturday, July 3, must be seriously supervised in order to give optimal results. The target is the number of new cases per day can be brought back below 10,000.
Learning from India, the government and regional administrations need to move faster, mobilizing all available sources to accelerate 3T (testing, tracing, treatment) such as medicines, care wards, oxygen and health workers in order to anticipate worst situation.
People from all walks of life also need to strengthen and remind each other to comply with the health protocols, starting from family members, close relatives, to fellow citizens.
Inspired by a short video circulating on a messaging app, we need to nurture enthusiasm and keep spirits fired up. In this challenging situation, despair should not overwhelm us. We need to strengthen and remind each other.
