By: Jajuli )*
The government has again extended the Implementation of Community Activity Restrictions (PPKM) in the Java-Bali region until August 23, 2021. The extension of the PPKM is expected to reduce the number of positive cases and reduce the death rate which is still high in Indonesia.
The implementation of Community Activity Restrictions (PPKM) in the Java-Bali region was decided to be extended again, this aims to suppress the rate of transmission of the corona virus. PPKM was extended in various regions with different levels.
On the occasion of the press conference, Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said, good momentum must be maintained. At the direction of the President, PPKM levels 4, 3, 2 were extended until August 23. There are additional regencies/cities that enter level 3, as many as 8 regencies/cities.
It is known, PPKM levels 4, 3 and 2 have been implemented in a number of areas over the past four weeks. Initially, the government implemented Emergency PPKM on July 3-20 after a spike in Covid-19 cases a few weeks after Eid. Then the government implemented the PPKM level 4 policy on July 20-25, continued on July 26 – August 2, August 3-9. Then August 10-16 was the fourth extension, and now it has been extended again.
In the previous PPKM period, President Jokowi stated that a decrease in cases had occurred in Java and Bali. However, areas outside Java-Bali must be more vigilant because there has not been a decrease in positive cases of Covid-19.
Luhut said the government had never crossed out the death indicator. He said this indicator was only issued temporarily for repairs. So the accuracy is better. Unfortunately, people’s mobility is high. On the one hand it is good for the economy, but dangerous because it can lead to an increase in cases.
Coordinating Minister Luhut said that the extension was carried out in several areas because the trend of cases in this area began to show improvement. Luhut said the trend of active cases also fell by 53% on August 15, 2021. However, PPKM level 4 was still extended to maintain the momentum of this decline in cases.
On a different occasion, the Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto ensured that the PPKM policy outside Java-Bali would still be carried out until August 23, 2021. This refers to the previous decision that the extension of PPKM based on levels in areas outside Java-Bali is valid for 2 weeks starting from 10-10 23 August 2021.
We need to know that throughout the implementation of PPKM level 4 there has been a decrease in Covid-19 cases. President Jokowi also claimed that the Bed Occupancy Rate (BOR) in Java Island Hospitals (RS) had decreased even nationally. He is grateful for the decrease in the BOR figure.
Along with this, President Jokowi also requested that daily Covid-19 vaccinations continue to be accelerated. According to the President, currently the daily national vaccination has reached 1.6 million injections in one day at its peak.
In addition, the Head of State also asked for centralized isolation which plays an important role in controlling the spread of Covid-19. Likewise, testing and tracing of positive confirmed cases of Covid-19 which is requested to continue to be improved.
Spokesperson for the Government for Handling Covid-19, Wiku Adisasmito, explained that the extension of the PPKM was carried out because the number of cases was still quite high compared to before the spike in cases.
On the occasion of the press conference, Prof. Wiku said that although the number of cases had dropped, the number of cases was still relatively high compared to before the spike in cases. Our daily cases range from 5 thousand to 7 thousand cases, while currently it is still at 20 thousand to 40 thousand.
The Task Force noted that this week, positive cases again decreased by 48,256 cases from the previous 273,891 to 225,635 cases. However, several provinces still showed a fairly high increase in positive cases. For active cases at the national level this week has decreased by 17 percent from the peak of cases on July 25. The number of active cases recorded has decreased for two consecutive weeks.
The Task Force noted that the increase in active cases was in the provinces of North Sumatra, Central Sulawesi, South Kalimantan, West Sumatra and South Sulawesi. Therefore, Prof. Wiku also asked the regional heads to be able to anticipate the spike in cases by setting up health service facilities in their respective regions.
The extension of the PPKM was taken because cases were still high and several regions in Indonesia experienced an increase in cases, so this policy must still be taken so that the spread of the corona virus can be suppressed.
)* The author is a contributor to the Pertiwi Institute
