By: Kenia Ayu)*
All parties are expected to synergize in being aware of the increase in Covid-19 cases after Lebaran. With the vigilance of the public and the government, it is hoped that the surge in Covid-19 cases can be anticipated and the economic recovery can continue.
Vigilance against the Covid-19 pandemic cannot simply be lowered, even though there has been a very significant decline in Indonesia in the past month. Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan stated that at least in the last 25 days, positive cases in Indonesia had been reduced to below 1,000.
In addition, the decrease in the number of inpatients at the hospital has also occurred very large, which is around 97 percent and with a Bed Occupancy Rate of only 2 percent. All of this is concrete evidence that the Government has indeed succeeded in controlling the Covid-19 pandemic.
However, that does not mean that the Covid-19 transmission curve has decreased so that people can immediately be careless so they don’t take precautions against the risk of transmission that can still occur. This is especially so after the community carried out the Eid al-Fitr celebration and also the Eid holiday a few days ago.
Until now, the government will continue to carry out this vigilance with various policies, including continuing to extend the Enforcement of Restrictions on Community Activities (PPKM), increasing and expanding vaccination coverage in all regions, especially giving the second dose of vaccine and also booster, as well as increasing testing and also tracing.
Siti Nadia Tarmizi as Spokesperson for COVID-19 Vaccination of the Ministry of Health (Kemenkes) emphasized that the Government will not immediately rush to make a transition policy from pandemic to endemic because it still has not ensured 100 percent safety. Therefore the transition will be carried out but slowly and gradually.
The gradual preparation for the transition from pandemic to endemic is very important because the normalization of community activities cannot just be opened without any policies. The main goal, according to Siti Nadia, is to maintain a low level of hospitalization and also deaths in the community due to the transmission of the pandemic, which might suddenly spike if not done gradually.
Another effort that is also being carried out by the Government is to continue to monitor the possibility of the emergence of new variants of Covid-19 which also has the potential to be infected in Indonesia and make a spike in new cases occur again. This was done after it turned out that Taiwan and America were being attacked by a new wave of variants, namely Omicron BA.2, then in South Africa there were Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 variants.
Then in terms of the community itself, as in the advice given by the Postgraduate Director of YARSI University and Professor of FKUI, Prof. Tjandra Yoga Aditama, that for people who may not have received the second dose of vaccine, they should immediately take the second dose, while those who have not done a booster can immediately do boosters.
Furthermore, of course, health protocols are important and we don’t get tired of being reminded, such as wearing masks and washing hands with soap. This includes keeping your distance and avoiding crowds as much as possible. These steps must be followed by the entire community for the safety of all parties.
At least the facts show that in the past 2 years, when people took the Lebaran Holidays and went back to their hometowns, there would immediately be a significant spike in the number of Covid-19 cases. Therefore, the potential and risk of a spike in cases may still occur this Eid in 2022, so the Minister of Health, Budi Gunadi Sadikin, continues to give an appeal to continue to increase vigilance.
Mutual cooperation and the spirit of community unity to fight the Covid-19 pandemic need to be continuously improved. The public is also advised to always obey the government’s advice because without public discipline, the Covid-19 case will be increasingly difficult to control.
)* The author is a contributor to the Press Circle and Cikini Students
