Riau Islands Governor Requests 147 Thousand Antigen Swab Test Kits For Assistance To The Central Government

TANJUNGPINANG - Governor of the Riau Islands (Kepri) Ansar Ahmad asked the central government for 147.000 antigen swab test kits to maximize testing and tracing during the extension of the Community Activity Restrictions (PPKM) until August 2.

In addition, the Governor also asked for assistance with COVID-19 medicines, especially for patients undergoing self-isolation.

"It has been proposed to the Ministry of Health", said Ansar Ahmad in Tanjungpinang, quoted by Antara, Monday, July 26.

Ansar said that apart from hoping for assistance from the central government, his party was also seeking to procure antigen swab test kits for COVID-19 medicines through regional budget (APBD) funds.

According to him, the Riau Islands Provincial Government is indeed increasing testing and tracing to expand the tracking of COVID-19 cases.

In accordance with the Ministry of Health's recommendation, the antigen swab test kit can officially be used to track COVID-19 cases, because the results are accurate and relatively fast.

He claimed that the COVID-19 testing and tracing carried out so far had improved, even though President Jokowi had highlighted it because the numbers were still low.

The Golkar Party politician conveyed that one of the obstacles faced by Riau Islands was that the overall report on the implementation of 3T (testing, tracing, and treatment) had not been accumulated because many officers at the Puskesmas were exposed to COVID-19.

"So we take steps that we will assist some staff at the sub-district office at the Public Health Center (Puskesmas) to recapitulate the 3T report", said Ansar.

Ansar is ready to provide support for the Central Government's policy to implement level four PPKM in Riau Islands, particularly in Batam and Tanjungpinang.

"We support the continuation of the implementation of PPKM level four because the implementation of PPKM some time ago, although it reduced the COVID-19 rate to 30 percent in Riau Islands but still fluctuates", said Ansar.