By: Kania Putri )*
The government is considered to be more optimal in dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic. This trend is reflected in the decline in positive numbers to hospital occupancy.
Although the delta variant of the corona virus has spread in Indonesia, the government is said to be more optimal in dealing with the pandemic. Moreover, the new variant of the corona attack that can be overcome with effective policies.
Jerry Sambuaga, Head of the Research and Development Agency for the Golkar Party, said that the number of COVID-19 had risen sharply but then it was controlled. Now some areas have actually begun to show a slope. According to him, this shows that the ability of the government and all elements of the nation can adapt in the fight against Covid-19. Jerry assessed that the majority of people also follow the policies and apply the regulations set by the government.
He said the community was constantly adapting. Currently, people are also increasingly aware of health protocols, aware of vaccines and have set various standards in interactions both in companies, markets, schools and others. He hopes that this adaptation can make herd immunity can be achieved soon. On the other hand, he considered that the extension of the PPKM (Enforcement of Restrictions on Community Activities) was appropriate.
The policy should indeed be extended to suppress mobility. Don’t let the restrictions be lifted and result in an explosion of mobility. Jerry said, sorry for the health workers and health facilities who have been struggling for more than two months. So that the government’s steps in extending the PPKM and boosting vaccination are the best options to reduce the transmission rate.
He explicitly said that his party supports the pandemic handling program through accelerating vaccinations. Even though the trend of COVID-19 cases is sloping, the government continues to increase the number of specimen checking.
Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin said that he was grateful that with the number of checking which almost reached 300 thousand specimens every day, the number of positive cases also did not reach the worst predicted number. Budi said that increasing the number of checking people and specimens is important so that the condition of each individual can be immediately identified. Thus, appropriate treatment can be immediately carried out if the individual is confirmed positive for COVID-19.
In addition to sloping daily cases, the Minister of Health also noted a decrease in hospital occupancy rates or BOR, both for isolation rooms and ICUs. The decline in BOR occurred in a number of areas, such as DKI Jakarta and West Java. Budi also revealed that the increase in cases actually occurred outside Java. Therefore, to deal with the increase in cases outside Java, Budi wants to replicate the policies that have been implemented in Java-Bali in suppressing the spike in cases.
There are two main reasons for the increase in cases outside Java. First, of course, regarding the lack of discipline in health protocols. Even though health protocols start from wearing masks correctly, maintaining distance is the easiest recipe to suppress transmission. The second is the presence of the delta variant of the corona virus which has a faster transmission rate than other variants that have now entered outside Java.
Budi also ensured the availability of drugs for handling Covid-19 patients outside Java. He also requested that an oxygen task force be formed to ensure the availability of oxygen in the regions.
On a different occasion, the President of the Republic of Indonesia, Ir. Joko Widodo, said that there was no other way at that time because on the islands of Java and Bali, his party saw all the red dots, none of them were yellow, so a very difficult decision had to be made with Emergency PPKM because there was no way. other than that.
Jokowi also advised all small business actors to keep fighting and survive in the midst of the pandemic. Jokowi hopes that the productive president’s assistance can help ease the burden on business actors.
The assistance will be distributed to around 12.8 million micro and small business actors spread across various parts of Indonesia with a nominal value of IDR 1.2 million for each small business actor.
The Covid-19 pandemic is a difficult time that must be passed, of course in tackling this problem, the government cannot run alone, we all have a role in ending the pandemic. If the government has optimized all efforts to deal with the pandemic, of course the community needs to comply with health protocols for the realization of herd immunity so that all sectors, both health and the economy can return to normal.
)* The author is a contributor to the Press Circle and Cikini Students