The Government Is Asked To Take Seriously The Increase In COVID-19 Cases In The Country

JAKARTA - The government is asked to take seriously the addition of COVID-19 cases that occur ahead of the Christmas and New Year celebrations. This seriousness is very much needed, especially if cases increase in areas outside Java-Bali Island where the scope of testing, tracing, and treatment or 3T is limited.

Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment (Menko Marves) Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said that currently there are 43 districts/cities in Java-Bali that have experienced an increase in COVID-19 cases over the past week.

"There is a trend of increasing cases in Java-Bali, mainly in 43 regencies/cities out of 128 regencies/cities or 33.6 percent in the last 7 days," Luhut said in a Youtube video broadcast by the Presidential Secretariat, Monday, November 8.

Luhut said that one of the provinces where cases were increasing was in DKI Jakarta, namely in four administrative cities in the capital city.

"In Jakarta, in North, East, West, South Jakarta, almost all of the trends have gone up," said Luhut.

Adding Luhut, Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said an increase in COVID-19 cases had indeed occurred in 155 regencies/cities in the country. However, Budi said this can still be controlled, although we still have to be vigilant.

"Some regencies/cities in Java and Bali as well as outside Java and Bali a total of around 155 which have symptoms of an increase, although they are still small and still under control," Budi said at a PPKM press conference broadcast on the Presidential Secretariat's YouTube, Monday, November 8.

For this increase, the government will continue to make observations. Moreover, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) asked regencies/cities, especially in five provinces, namely DKI Jakarta, West Java, Central Java, East Java, and East Kalimantan to receive special attention and be handled immediately if there was an increase in cases.

"Now we are observing several provinces, regencies/cities that have experienced a slight increase," said the former Deputy Minister of SOEs.

"We, at the direction of the President, are asked to immediately pay attention to regencies/cities, especially in the five provinces, namely Jakarta, West Java, Central Java, East Java, and East Kalimantan.

Seeing the increasing condition of COVID-19 cases in the country that is happening ahead of Christmas and New Year's 2022, an epidemiologist from Australia's Griffith University Dicky Budiman said this could be caused by several things. One of them is the uneven community protection due to groups that have not been vaccinated or infected with the virus.

"When it comes to Indonesia (the number that has not been protected, ed) this is significant. Even more than 50 million, so this is what then becomes a potential (spread, ed) and this is what happened," said Dicky to VOI.

Not only that, he said the increase in the number of cases also occurred because people began to neglect health protocols, namely washing hands, wearing masks, maintaining distance, staying away from crowds, and reducing mobility or 5M.

"In addition, other influencing factors are inadequate 3T, loose 5M," he said.

Thus, Dicky reminded the government to take serious steps. He said that preventive measures were better than the massive distribution of cases that had already occurred. "Talk about improvement should be taken seriously rather than exploding," he said.

"Because if this distribution occurs, for example, outside Java-Bali, where 3T coverage is limited and the vaccine is more vulnerable," said Dicky.