West Java Provincial Government Urges Residents To Re-implement COVID-19 Alert Prokes

BANDUNG - The Provincial Government (Pemprov) of West Java appealed to residents to re-implement health protocols (prokes) as a form of vigilance to revive COVID-19 cases.

The reason, said Regional Assistant (Asda) I of the Government and Welfare of the West Java Regional Secretariat, Dedi Supandi, in the November-December 2023 period, Singapore, Malaysia, and the possibility of Indonesia being reported to have experienced a significant increase in COVID-19 cases.

By paying attention to this phenomenon, Dedi reminded that the use of masks to maintain a healthy lifestyle can be re-implemented by the community while waiting for further directions from the Ministry of Health.

"The plan is like that (implementation of prokes). We are still waiting for what is the reference from the Health Office, but it has started, for those who are sick, they must wear masks and for activities that intersect with humans or so on, it is also hoped that they will use masks," he said as quoted by ANTARA, Thursday, December 7.

In addition, his party also encourages public facilities to return to providing hand washing facilities, to support health protocols (prokes) as a mitigation of the prevention of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"While being activated again, how do you wash your hands in several places. The school environment is maintained, but more in some other environments," he said.

The Ministry of Health reported that daily cases of COVID-19 in Indonesia increased by 35-40 cases as of December 6, 2023, with the number of patients being treated in hospitals recorded at 60-131 people.

This situation triggered an increase in hospital occupancy rate of 0.06 percent and a death rate of 0-3 cases per day.

The increase in cases is dominated by the Omicron XBB 1.5 subvariant which is also the cause of a wave of COVID-19 infections in Europe and the United States. In addition, EG2 and EG5 subvariants were also detected.

Despite the increase, the cases are still much lower than during the pandemic which reached 50,000-400,000 cases per week.