Visited By The Head Of The COVID-19 Task Force Due To The Spike In Cases, Ganjar Said, The Regent-Mayor, Is Hard To Say

JAKARTA - Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo admitted that he had repeatedly reminded regents and mayors in Central Java to anticipate a spike in COVID-19 cases after the Eid holiday.

He conveyed this to the Head of the Task Force for Handling COVID-19, Ganip Warsito, during a working visit in Central Java.

However, in this case, the Central Java Province COVID-19 Task Force noted that there were at least eight regencies/cities that experienced a significant increase in cases including Sragen, Tegal, Brebes, Banyumas, Cilacap, Karanganyar, Wonogiri, and Kudus.

"That's a shock. He didn't predict, he didn't anticipate, then he panicked", said Ganjar at the Coordination Meeting for Handling COVID-19 at the Central Java Provincial Government Building, Wednesday, June 2.

Ganjar said the high increase in COVID-19 cases, such as in Kudus Regency, also occurred because the predictions of the spike in cases last year were not carefully observed, causing panic.

In fact, Ganjar admitted that he had repeatedly asked the district/city governments that experienced an increase in the number of cases to immediately take steps to consolidate and avoid understanding as if they could handle it themselves.

In fact, Ganjar joked that he was like a counseling guidance teacher (BP) or counseling guidance (BK) whose job it is to warn or guide students who are naughty or do not comply with school regulations.

"So now I'm like a BP/BK teacher. There are naughty kids, get together, then njeweri siji-siji (tweak one by one)", joked Ganjar.

Responding to this, Ganip said he would help and encourage local governments to control COVID-19 cases through various appropriate and integrated steps.

"We will encourage the handling of COVID-19 to be better and cases can be controlled", said Ganip.