By: Edi Cahyadi)*
The latest edition of the Nikkei Index places Indonesia in the top position in Southeast Asia (ASEAN) in recovering from Covid-19. This achievement is expected to continue to be improved, so that the National Economic Recovery (PEN) can continue to be implemented.
I can’t believe it’s been almost 2 years that we have passed the days of the pandemic. March 2020 was the beginning of a bad episode because the first Covid case was found in Indonesia and slowly the number of patients soared. To restore society and prevent mass deaths, the government takes various ways, so that all are free from the danger of corona.
The government’s efforts have paid off because the handling is very good. The spokesman for the COVID-19 task force team, Doctor Wiku Adisasmito, stated that the handling of the second wave of the pandemic in Indonesia was better, when compared to other countries. The proof is that the spike in cases only lasted for 2 months.
Indeed, during the middle of 2021 there was an increase in the number of corona patients, to more than 50,000 patients per day. But in the end the cases could be suppressed slowly, so the number of patients decreased drastically. According to data from the Covid task force, as of October 10, 2021, there were only 789 patients on that day. This number should be grateful because less than 1,000 people have been affected by the corona virus.
Meanwhile, in DKI Jakarta, there was zero mortality, aka no one died from the corona virus. Meanwhile, in 15 other provinces, all patients recovered completely and none of them lost their lives. This is an achievement because it shows the performance of the government which is very serious in dealing with the corona virus in Indonesia.
Indonesia’s achievements are very commendable because it is not easy to be number 1 in handling the corona virus in Southeast Asia. Meanwhile, China, which used to be in the number one position, had to be complacent because it was at number 9.
The rise of Indonesia’s position to number 1 is the fruit of the government’s patience and firmness. First, indeed we are not doing a lockdown, but only limiting mobility with the PSBB program followed by PPKM level. The proof is that this program is also effective in beating the corona, because the number of patients has also dropped dramatically, because if there is no mass movement, the virus will not spread.
Second, the government launched a health protocol which is currently being refined to 10M. People have finally become accustomed to washing their hands, carrying hand sanitizers, keeping their distance, and especially wearing masks. In addition, they also change clothes after traveling, keep the environment clean, increase immunity, and make points in other proces.
While the third strategy is vaccination. The national vaccination program has been running for 7 months and more than 50% of the population has been vaccinated. Moreover, the vaccine is 100% free, passed the BPOM test, and is already halal by the MUI, so that people no longer hesitate to inject the vaccine.
Vaccinations are also carried out with a door-to-door system, so that health workers who come directly to villages or housing. Residents live in an orderly queue to be injected, and they don’t need to spend money for transportation to the vaccination site.
Many government strategies in reducing the number of corona patients include vaccination, door to door vaccination, PPKM, and the 10M prokes. All of this has given positive results because finally Indonesia has become the number 1 country in handling Covid, in Southeast Asia. This achievement must not make us proud, but must be maintained, so that the number of Covid patients continues to decline.
)* The author is a contributor to the Press Circle and Cikini Students
