Long-term Covid-19 Response Scenario Urged

KOMPAS/NINO CITRA ANUGRAHANTO

A quiet atmosphere at the culinary center at Solo Grand Mall, Surakarta City, Central Java, Saturday (3/7/2021). Shopping for basic goods and food is still allowed during the period of restrictions on community activities. Food may only be packaged for take-away.

A long-term scenario for handling Covid-19 must be prepared with a view to improving government communication on risk management and heightening surveillance to detect cases.

JAKARTA, KOMPAS — As the disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 is believed to be here to stay for the long haul, people are resigned to living with Covid-19 and hence, long-term measures to deal with the disease are imperative.

Sulfikar Amir, a sociological disaster professor at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore, said that a road map on pandemic control would look to not only controlling the Covid-19 pandemic, but also anticipating future pandemics.

"At one point, we will be able to control the spread of the coronavirus, but transmission may still occur. This condition, called endemicity, must be anticipated with clear and measurable indicators," he said at the "Post-pandemic Scenario" webinar from Jakarta on Wednesday (1/9/2021).

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A scenario in the form of a road map on comprehensive pandemic response needed to be prepared, which covered epidemiological, social and economic interventions.

This road map was expected to serve as a reference for transforming pandemic handling into effective work.

For short-term measures, the road map on Covid-19 pandemic handling could be drawn up to cover the three phases of suppression, stabilization, and normalization.

BLOGS.NTU.EDU.SG/

Sulfikar Amir

The first phase targets suppressing the number of cases and deaths through social restrictions, contact tracing and testing, as well as vaccination.

The second phase is to ensure the effectiveness of risk control measures against Covid-19 transmission, which would enable the partial reopening of public and economic activities.

The third phase is normalization, when the pandemic is under control, public awareness about risk management is developed, and Covid-19 surveillance is working well. Indicators to determine this phase include confirmed cases below 1 percent and less than 1,000 new daily cases.

“The use of technology and reliable and transparent data collection are imperative to passing every phase. People should be able to recognize what phase they are entering at a particular time and what will happen after they pass the phase," Sulfikar said.

Abetnego Panca Putra Tarigan, a deputy at the Presidential Staff’s human development office, said that a long-term scenario for handling Covid-19 had been discussed in a Cabinet meeting, with institutionalization and funding on the agenda for the next meeting.

“The challenges in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic are many, and this needs recentralized intervention. We need to discuss this in the context of a pandemic becoming an endemic," Abetnego said. He added that recentralization needed to be emphasized, given the current decentralized approach to governance.

Vaccination

Ines Atmosukarto, a vaccine and molecular biology researcher at Australian National University, stressed the importance of vaccinating against Covid-19 to control the pandemic.

KOMPAS/LARASWATI ARIADNE ANWAR

Elderly people wait in line outside the Health Ministry training center on Jl. Hang Jebat in Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta, on Tuesday. They received a message broadcast on WhatsApp notifying recipients of free vaccinations for elderly people in the area. However, it turned out that the free vaccine was being offered only to elderly people with South Jakarta-registered ID cards and that the number was limited to 1,000 people per day.

She said that while it could not prevent transmission, vaccination would help reduce the risks of the situation worsening in order to ease the burden on health facilities.

On a separate occasion, the Health Ministry’s Covid-19 vaccination spokesperson, Siti Nadia Tarmizi, said the nationwide vaccination rollout had administered 100 million doses, which was still way off the target of vaccinating 208.2 million people.

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Even though the pandemic was now under control, people were urged to remain vigilant over the possible resurgence of cases.

The variant reportedly possessed the potential to resist vaccines or evade immunity.

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday (31/8) announced the detection of the Mu variant (B.1.621), categorized as a “variant of interest” (VOI). The variant reportedly possessed the potential to resist vaccines or evade immunity.

Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin stated that the variant had not yet been detected in Indonesia. In Asia, two cases of the Mu variant had been reported in Japan and another two in Hong Kong.

"We will heighten surveillance of whole genome sequencing from samples at airports and seaports, especially from these two countries," he said in a written statement.

LAURENT GILLIERON/KEYSTONE VIA AP

In this Monday, May 24, 2021 file photo, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO), speaks at the WHO headquarters, in Geneva, Switzerland. The head of the World Health Organization said Thursday, July 15 that he is asking China to be more transparent as scientists search for the origins of the coronavirus and acknowledged it was premature to rule out that the pandemic may have been linked to a laboratory leak.

Meanwhile, in a bit to increase Covid-19 tracing and testing, the government has lowered the price ceiling for antigen rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) for Java and Bali to Rp 99,000. Previously, RDTs cost Rp 250,000 for Java and Rp 275,000 for regions outside Java. (TAN/MTK/SON)

(This article was translated by Musthofid)