Airlangga Ensures Local Governments Can't Play COVID-19 Positivity Rate Figures

JAKARTA - Chairman of the Committee for Handling COVID-19 and National Economic Recovery (KPCPEN) Airlangga Hartarto ensured that no local government could play with the COVID-19 positivity rate by reducing the number of tests.

The reason is that the daily testing standard has been determined by the government based on the Instruction of the Minister of Home Affairs (Inmendagri) Number 17 of 2021 concerning Micro PPKM. This reference is also based on the standards set by the World Health Organization (WHO).

"The government encourages the positivity rate to be related to the testing standards recommended by the WHO. Therefore, in the new Ministry of Home Affairs, the testing target is set, meaning that at least it must be achieved," said Airlangga in a press conference broadcast on BNPB's YouTube, Wednesday, July 7th.

He gave an example of the COVID-19 tests that must be achieved by a number of areas outside Java-Bali such as Bandar Lampung City reaching 2,333 testing per day, Palembang 2,454 testing per day, Padang City 1,406 testing per day, and Riau 1,658 testing per day.

With this standard, the Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs said that local governments can no longer play with these numbers.

Moreover, this positivity rate is an important thing in monitoring the development of COVID-19 cases in the country. This includes taking further policies in the midst of the onslaught of the Delta variant virus which spreads faster.

"Thus, the standard is locked. Because the positivity rate is very important, especially for monitoring and close contact. Because of this Delta variant, it's (contagious, red) fast," explained Airlangga.

"So there are no areas that reduce the positivity rate by reducing testing," he added.

Airlangga said that currently areas outside Java and Bali are still implementing the micro-scale Community Activity Restriction (PPKM) policy.

However, there are 43 regencies and cities that have been monitored to start experiencing an increase in active COVID-19 cases, so they need to be monitored closely every day. One of them is by monitoring the positivity rate in each of these areas.

"With this Delta variant, we have to increase the number of tracings per day, so that these 43 city districts carry out testing and tracing according to the standards recommended by WHO," he concluded.