Compliance with health protocols is very much needed so that the declining trend in COVID-19 cases continues. That way, restrictions can be relaxed.
By
MAWAR KUSUMA WULAN/AHMAD ARIF/ICHWAN SUSANTO
·4 minutes read
JAKARTA, KOMPAS — The implementation of emergency public activity restrictions (PPKM Darurat) has been extended until July 25. If the number of COVID-19 cases, the occupancy of medical treatment rooms and the COVID-19 death rate can be reduced, the policy will be gradually relaxed to give room for the economy to run.
The next five days are important to jointly optimize a number of efforts to achieve these indicators. The compliance of every individual and community group in applying health protocols, such as wearing face masks, avoiding crowds and reducing mobility, is urgently needed.
"If the trend of cases continues to decline, on July 26, the government will open [the economy] in stages," said President Joko Widodo on Tuesday via the Presidential Secretariat\'s YouTube channel.
The President mentioned several things that could be done in the gradual reopening. Traditional markets that sold basic needs could be allowed to remain open until 8 p.m. at 50 percent of capacity.
Traditional markets other than those selling basic daily needs could be allowed to open until 3 p.m. at 50 percent of visitor capacity.
The President also mentioned that street vendors, grocery stores, internet and phone voucher sales outlets, barbershops, laundry businesses, hawkers, small workshops, car wash stations and other similar small businesses would be allowed to reopen under strict health protocols until 9 p.m. Technical arrangements related to the reopening would be be regulated by the local administration.
Food stalls, street vendors, hawker stalls and other places of business in open spaces would be allowed to open under strict health protocols until 9 p.m. The maximum meal time for each visitor would be 30 minutes.
The President asked the public to work together to implement PPKM Darurat so that the number of cases would soon decline and pressure on hospitals would decrease. The public was reminded to improve discipline in implementing health protocols, isolate those with symptoms and treat those infected as early as possible.
The government will continue distributing free drug packages to people without symptoms and mild symptoms. To ease the burden on affected communities, the government has allocated additional social aid funds of Rp 55.21 trillion in the form of cash assistance, namely social cash assistance, direct village cash assistance and the Family Hope Program.
Separately, the head of the expert team and the government spokesperson for the handling of COVID-19, Wiku Adisasmito, said the implementation of PPKM Darurat for two weeks had showed a decrease in the hospital bed occupancy rate (BOR) and people’s mobility on Java and Bali.
However, he said, the number of COVID-19 cases was still high. "The number of cases has still doubled, with the number of active cases at 542,938," he said. The death toll on Tuesday increased by 1,280.
He also said that based on monitoring of health protocols over the past week in Java and Bali, Banten had the lowest compliance with mask wearing and Jakarta had the lowest compliance with social distancing.
Not safe yet
Iwan Ariawan, an Epidemiologist at the University of Indonesia Faculty of Health, said it was too early to conclude that there had been a decline in the number of COVID-19 cases nationally because the recent fall had occurred in line with a decline in the number of tests. According to him, the downward trend in cases should be seen for at least two weeks, with the number of tests not decreasing.
Tjandra Yoga Aditama, a professor of the University of Indonesia Faculty of Medicine who is also the former director of the World Health Organization (WHO) for Southeast Asia, said that based on the available data, there were no signs of decline in the number of cases.
He also warned that hospital occupancy rates could lead to misperceptions if not read carefully. If the decrease in the bed occupancy rate was due to an increase in the number of beds, it did not necessarily indicate a decrease in the number of cases.