Government Extends Java-Bali PPKM Period, Coordinating Minister Airlangga: Because ICU Space Is Limited

JAKARTA - The Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Chair of the Committee for Handling COVID-19 and National Economic Recovery (KPCPEN) Airlangga Hartarto said that currently the average occupancy rate of the intensive care unit (ICU) in hospitals on the islands of Java and Bali reached 70 percent. more.

Airlangga said, this was the reason for the government to decide to extend the Public Activity Restriction Enforcement (PPKM) period in Java-Bali for two weeks.

"As stated, the limited ICU, above 70 percent, resulted in and became the basis for the government to extend the PPKM," he said, in a virtual discussion, Thursday, January 21.

As is known, initially the government implemented the Java-Bali PPKM from January 11 to 25, 2021. After January 25, the government will continue the second PPKM period. This policy is in effect from 26 January to 8 February 2021.

Airlangga hopes that during the extension of the PPKM period there will be concrete steps to reduce the ICU filling rate in Java and Bali hospitals. For example, by adding more ICU rooms as ordered by Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin.

"We hope that during the extension there will be reallocation or additional space as requested by the Minister of Health. We hope that there will be an additional volume of beds or isolation rooms in government hospitals, state-owned enterprises, and local governments," he said.

Not only reflecting on the high level of ICU room occupancy, said Airlangga, the government set an extension of the Java-Bali PPKM period as well after seeing the increase in positive cases of COVID-19.

Furthermore, the minister who turned out to have been positively exposed to COVID-19 said, from 34 provinces in Indonesia, only Banten and DI Yogyakarta had a tendency to decrease the number of additional cases.

"In some provinces there is still a decline but the curve has not dropped down, only in Banten and Yogyakarta provinces and several places, so it was decided to extend it for two weeks," he said.