COVID-19 Task Force Talks About The Crowd Of Rizieq Shihab's Supporters At Soetta Airport: Don't Be Selfish

Rizieq Shihab (DOK. VOI / Irfan Meidianto)

JAKARTA - Spokesperson for the Task Force (Task Force) Handling COVID-19 Wiku Adisasmito asked that the crowd that occurred when supporters of the Grand Imam of the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) Rizieq Shihab at Soekarno-Hatta Airport and Petamburan, Central Jakarta no longer happened.

This is because events like this have the potential to cause transmission and increase in cases of COVID-19 in the community.

"This crowd has implications for the potential for transmission and a very large increase in cases. Don't be selfish. We must remember that if we huddle together we can bring havoc in the midst of this pandemic," Wiku said in an online press conference broadcast on the YouTube account of the Presidential Secretariat. , Thursday, November 12th.

He said that all parties had a role to play in preventing the occurrence of crowding in one location from occurring. Moreover, the crowd would make it impossible for those there to keep their distance. "Plus if we don't use masks. This will increase the risk of transmission even greater," he said.

"Neglect or indifference to this condition and to health protocols can endanger human lives. Not only for ourselves but for our families and those around us," he added.

Wiku also asked people who feel they have symptoms of COVID-19 to get checked out immediately.

"Go to a health facility to check his health status," he said.

Previously, the crowd to pick up the Grand Imam of the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) Rizieq Shihab, who had crowded at Soekarno-Hatta and Petamburan Airports during the COVID-19 pandemic, was under the spotlight of an epidemiologist from Australia's Griffith University Dicky Budiman.

Seeing the large number of people who gathered without heeding health protocols for COVID-19 prevention such as maintaining distance and wearing masks in the middle of the crowd, he considered it very possible that there would be a COVID-19 cluster later.

"Every dense crowd like that, such a crowd where conditions are not yet under control is indicated by a national positivity rate which is still above 10 percent including in Jakarta, not yet five percent and we do not know where it has come from, yes, of course this. It is very possible that there will be a cluster, "said Dicky to VOI, Tuesday, November 10.

If in the future there are parties who argue that after this crowd was not found the cluster, he then reminded that the cluster of the spread of COVID-19 was not absent but undetectable due to low testing. "So (crowding, red) this is not a safe thing, no," he said.

He said the low level of intervention against COVID-19 through testing to tracking cases after a crowd like this would also have the potential to cause an explosion of high cases in the community. Moreover, in today's society, many viruses spread through people without symptoms.

It is known, Rizieq arrived in Indonesia after 3 years in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, November 10. At that time, Rizieq Shihab was greeted by a crowd of pickers who filled the Terminal 3 area of Soekarno-Hatta Airport. Judging from the live streaming of the YouTube Front TV account, Rizieq Shihab returned to Indonesia with his family. Meanwhile, the pick-up crowd filled all sides of the arrival terminal area from the international route.

There were also lines forming a fence to make way for Rizieq Shihab from terminal 3 of Soekarno-Hatta Airport.

The crowd to pick up Rizieq Shihab had moved since early this morning. It was reported that there was a total traffic jam towards Soekarno-Hatta Airport this morning.

Prospective passengers even reportedly had to walk about 1 kilometer because the vehicle could not move. Apart from crowding around the airport, the crowd was also at the residence of the FPI High Priest in the Petamburan area, Jakarta.

They also held dhikr, salawat, and prayed for Habib Rizieq's safety during the trip.