By: Savira Ayu)*
The government has taken a policy of tightening state entrances. This step is carried out in order to prevent the importation of cases of Covid-19 and other dangerous diseases from abroad.
It turns out that the Covid-19 cases in Indonesia are increasing day by day, even though the cure rate is very high and the death rate is very low, but it cannot be denied that the rate of spread or transmission is very fast. This was mainly after the occurrence of Omicron mutation into BA.4, BA.5 and BA.2.75 subvariants.
As data regarding the latest Covid-19 case development reports, as of July 28, 2022 alone there has been a spread of cases reaching 6,353, then the recovery rate has also increased to 5,705 with updated data on the number of patients dying from Covid-19 at number 17 people.
Regarding this, Prof. Wiku Adisasmito conveyed to the entire community to continue to increase their vigilance. The reason is that the additional cases of Covid-19 continue to increase slowly starting from last June which only reached a thousand, then suddenly in July it became two thousand cases and now it immediately increased to six thousand cases so that in total starting from April In 2022, there were already around 46 thousand cases.
After investigation, it was finally revealed that one of the causes that led to why the pandemic could re-emerge in the country even though a few months ago the curve was very sloping and even though it was actually relatively very controlled.
It turns out that one of the causes is because of the import activities that continue to be carried out even today. In other words, it can be concluded that cases of Covid-19 transmission can re-emerge in Indonesia due to the large number of people traveling in and out of the country.
Therefore, in response to this finding, the Government immediately implemented a very firm policy, namely tightening security in border areas, especially state entrances. This is done in order to immediately reduce the possibility of the continued entry of the international virus into Indonesia.
The tightening policy implemented is to carry out screening starting from state entrances to all entrances for logistics activities. Regarding the method used, the Government will apply the Covid-19 antigen method which will be tested on all individuals passing by there.
As quoted from the Government’s official website, the Spokesperson for Handling Covid-19, Prof. Wiku Adisasmito stated that the policy regarding tightening screening at the country’s entrances was contained in the Circular of the Director General of P2P of the Ministry of Health. Furthermore, he also explained what the procedure would be if there was a positive suspect for Covid-19 during the screening process.
Prof. Wiku said that if a suspected Covid-19 was found, he would immediately be isolated at the entrance to the country. This strict regulation is certainly very beneficial for the wider community because it is one of the strategies to be able to prevent further transmission of the virus in the community if for example the suspect is not immediately isolated on the spot.
Furthermore, Prof. Wiku also emphasized to all Indonesian people if they really feel unwell so that they don’t force themselves and end up traveling. He appealed that if people were feeling unfit, then it would be better to postpone the trip or public activity that he was going to do and immediately check with the nearest health facility. Especially if it turns out that there are people who have been confirmed positive for Covid-19, then it is strictly forbidden to act selfishly by intentionally continuing to carry out public activities and as if they feel that they are not sick.
On the other hand, the Government’s efforts to really make this country free immediately and repeat the success of suppressing the spread of Covid-19 cases are not only by tightening screening at state entrances, but also by starting to implement policies for the fourth dose of vaccination. second booster.
A lot of news began to circulate that it was officially right today, Friday (29/7) the policy for the second booster vaccine has begun to be mandatory for all members of health workers (nakes) in the country. The policy is contained in a Circular Number HK.02.02/C.3615/2022 that all Heads of Health Services at the Provincial and Regency/City levels are ordered to immediately implement the second booster vaccine.
With the increasing number of cases of Covid-19, which turns out to be increasing in number, the Government continues to seek various ways to be able to successfully suppress the spread of the virus and control it. One of them is to immediately tighten screening at the entrance of the country so that there is no transmission of the virus that turns out to be brought from abroad.
)* The author is a contributor to Pertiwi Isntitute