COVID-19 Soared 92 Percent Last Month, Task Force: This Is Intolerable!

JAKARTA - Spokesperson for the COVID-19 Task Force, Wiku Adisasmito, said the spike in COVID-19 cases on a national scale over the past four weeks was very sharp, up 92 percent from the previous month.

"This is a very sharp increase, and it cannot be tolerated", Wiku said in a press statement, Wednesday, June 23.

Wiku explained that the six provinces with the highest increase in COVID-19 cases were on the island of Java. Based on data as of June 20, 2021, cases in DKI Jakarta increased by 387 percent with a total increase of 20.634 cases, then West Java increased by 115 percent, with a total increase of 8.382 cases.

Then, cases in Central Java increased by 105 percent with a total increase of 5.896 cases, East Java increased by 174 percent with a total increase of 2.852 cases, DI Yogyakarta increased by 197 percent with a total of 2.583 cases, and Banten increased by 189 percent with a total of 967 cases.

Therefore, Wiku asked the local government to optimize district/city community activity restrictions (PPKM) as well as Micro-scale PPKM now.

"According to the direction of the President, regional leaders at the provincial and district/city levels, especially in Java, must get used to observing the current situation by reading good data so that anticipatory steps can be taken immediately", said Wiku.

Wiku said that there are still many villages/sub-district that do not yet have a PPKM post. In fact, it is necessary to control the prevention of exposure to COVID-19 from a community scale.

"Of course, it has the potential to cause obstacles to good coordination of handling COVID-19 to the neighborhood level, so that it has an impact on not achieving the goals of the micro-scale PPKM itself", he said.

Based on data from the Task Force, PPKM posts in DKI Jakarta have only formed 34 percent, in West Java 53 percent, in Central Java 55 percent, in DI Yogyakarta 72 percent, in Banten 31 percent, and in East Java 40 percent.

Therefore, the Task Force asked the Governors in particular from these 6 provinces to immediately instruct the Regents and Mayors in their regions to improve the performance of Micro-scale PPKM.

"Once the post has been established, the next step is to ensure that all the tasks and functions of the post are carried out properly by each of the related elements", said Wiku.

"Remember, COVID-19 is a race against time and the guarantee is life. So, if all local governments can take anticipatory steps as early as possible, it can save many lives", he added.