Moeldoko Reminds Government Beware Of COVID-19 Spread On Year-End Holidays

JAKARTA - The government has stated that it is aware of the potential for the spread of the COVID-19 virus, especially during the year-end holidays in celebration of Christmas and the 2022 New Year.

Presidential Chief of Staff (KSP) Moeldoko in a briefing to the media in Malang City, East Java, Friday, said that the 2022 Christmas and New Year holidays will be the government's main concern, especially with regard to the potential spread of COVID-19.

"Because we are really wary of Christmas and New Year. This Christmas and New Year is a test," said Moeldoko.

Moeldoko explained, if after the end of the Christmas and New Year holidays there were additional confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Indonesia, the government would immediately take a number of strategic steps.

He really hopes that the public can remain disciplined in implementing strict COVID-19 handling health protocols, so that in the second and third week of January 2022 there will be no explosion in the spread of the Corona virus after the year-end holidays.

"Later on, if there is an explosion in the second week of January, the third week of an explosion, there may be changes in strategy," he said.

Therefore, the public is expected not to overreact to the year-end holiday, because until now the disease pandemic due to the spread of the virus that first broke out in Wuhan, China has not been completed.

The government has taken steps to abolish collective leave on December 24, 2021. The decision is in accordance with the Joint Decree (SKB) of the Three Ministers Number 712 of 2021, Number 1 of 2021 and Number 2 of 2021 concerning National Holidays and Joint Leave of 2021.

"Still we are really worried about this Christmas and New Year, don't overdo it. If the euphoria is excessive, and (cases) are high again, it will be troublesome. So it's more of an effort to put the brakes on," he said.

With these conditions, Moeldoko added that the government also continues to impose restrictions on the number of tourist visits in tourist destinations in Indonesia. Limiting the number of tourists, aims to avoid crowds.

The restriction on the number of tourist visits to each tourist destination is adjusted to each level in the implementation of community activity restrictions (PPKM) issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Based on records, so far in Indonesia there have been 4,249,758 positive confirmed cases of COVID-19. Of the total, 4,096,664 people were reported to have recovered, and 143,608 people died.

Meanwhile, for the achievement of vaccination, nationally there are 208,265,720 vaccination targets in Indonesia. Until now, there were 128,147,345 residents who had received the first dose of injection and 81,711,099 residents for the second dose.