Ministry of Communication and Information: Government Prepares To Face Worse COVID-19 Conditions

JAKARTA - Spokesman for the Ministry of Communication and Information, Dedy Permadi, said that the government is currently preparing to deal with COVID-19 which is expected to worsen.

This can be seen from the increase in new cases of COVID-19 which continues to soar, even above 38 thousand per day in the last two days. Active cases also reached more than 350 thousand.

"Seeing a significant increase in cases in the last few days, the government is preparing to face worse conditions", said Dedy in a Youtube video broadcast by the Presidential Secretariat, Friday, July 9.

Efforts to deal with these conditions include converting non-COVID-19 treatment rooms into intensive care rooms for COVID-19.

This effort is mainly carried out at hospitals in Java and Bali, with support for treatments such as ventilators and additional health workers.

"The Ministry of Health, TNI, Police, and BNPB (National Agency for Disaster Management) will increase the number of isolation places and ask the regional government to find other solutions regarding efforts to add treatment rooms for COVID-19 patients", said Dedy.

"The Minister of Health will immediately mobilize human resources to meet the needs of health workers. Final-level medical students and prospective nurses will be involved to help in the current emergency", he added.

On the other hand, the government has also asked for assistance to supply COVID-19 handling facilities to other countries, such as ventilators to oxygen cylinders.

"One more factor that supports our recovery and awakening from this crisis is the cooperation and attention of friendly countries that supply oxygen cylinder ventilators, oxygen concentrators, and vaccines, both with the purchase and donation schemes", explained Dedy.

Meanwhile, the coordinator of the Emergency-Restrictions on Community Activities (PPKM), Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, is said to have asked the regional police chief and regional commander to immediately distribute vaccines to densely populated areas. This is because the data shows that the movement of people is still quite high in the area.

"Let's work hand in hand to regulate mobility during this Emergency PPKM. No need to leave the house if it's not essential, only for very urgent needs such as going to the vaccination center", he added.