COVID-19 Task Force: ASN, TNI-Polri, State-Owned Enterprises To Privates Are Prohibited From Year-End Leave

JAKARTA - Spokesperson for the COVID-19 Handling Task Force Prof. Wiku Adisasmito said the government implemented a policy of prohibiting the taking of leave at the end of the year for ASN, TNI-Polri, and also BUMN employees to prevent an increase in community mobility which could potentially increase the transmission of COVID-19 cases.

"The government has so far agreed to implement several strategies, among which the first is the prohibition of leave or holidays for ASN, TNI-Polri, BUMN, and private employees during the year-end holidays, in which the elimination of collective leave on December 24, 2021, and a ban on taking leave allotments in end of the year," Wiku said at a press conference regarding the latest developments in the situation and handling of COVID-19, quoted by Antara, Thursday, November 18.

Wiku said the policy of banning leave was only carried out to minimize non-urgent movements of the people.

"The COVID-19 Task Force noted that every time there was an increase in mobility in the community, it was correlated with an increase in COVID-19 cases," he said.

"As we all know that based on past experience, long holiday periods always lead to an increase in cases. This is due to the tendency of people to fill their holiday moments by traveling out of the house and visiting relatives or relatives, which often reduces one's discipline in enforcing health protocols," he said.

Wiku said that the ability of COVID-19 to spread to more people at the same time could result in a significant increase in cases and the addition of doubling or exponentially.

The exponential increase in cases is reflected in the effective reproduction rate (RT) of a disease that is above one. He said that the higher the RT, the greater the chance that the number of positive cases would increase, and vice versa.

Wiku also said that based on existing studies, it is necessary to reduce community mobility by at least 20 percent to 40 percent of the normal intensity so that the effective reproductive rate or RT is below 1.

Therefore, the government has adopted a policy of banning leave for workers, be it ASN, TNI-Polri, BUMN, and private employees.